All this squabbling seemed about to end this week when the dairy compact was supposed to go out of existence.

By the time a parent buys milk at the local grocery, a 10-cent-a-gallon surcharge imposed by the dairy compact might double, triple or more.

Legislators from the Northeast won a new $1.3 billion national program to replace the defunct dairy compact.

"Let me say that I support the dairy compact," Mrs. Clinton said at a forum in Utica this morning.

But I can no more force the senate to vote on that than I can force the assembly to vote on the dairy compact.

In the East, New Jersey, Maryland and Virginia have passed laws recently seeking to join the existing dairy compact.

If New York joined the dairy compact, dairy farmers could charge an additional $1.30 for every 100 pounds of milk, according to industry experts.

The proposed dairy compact would amount to an assault on the living standards of poor families.

"We're glad that Rudy Giuliani has finally decided to join Hillary Clinton in support of the dairy compact," Mr. Wolfson said.

The dairy compact would allow dairy farmers to jack up prices, perhaps 25 percent, above current Federal guidelines.