The Democratic Senate's version of the farm bill--the bill reauthorizing the huge collection of agricultural programs and spending obligations--included a change to the traditional price supports for dairy farmers. In the Northeast, payments to farmers would occur when dairy prices fell below a fixed level; in the rest of the country, they would occur only when the price fell below the five-year average for that fiscal quarter. Domenici (RNM) proposed replacing this program with flat, fixed payments to dairy farmers everywhere. Republicans argued this was a simpler, fairer system. Democrats and Progressives countered that it paid farmers too much in good times and too little in bad times. This vote was a motion to kill Domenici's amendment, so a "yes" was also a vote to support the Democratic version. The motion passed, 56-42.