Cite as: 521 U. S. 457 (1997)
Souter, J., dissenting
pelled advertising programs were necessary for the specific produce chosen and not others.9 The legislative history for the bill authorizing paid advertising programs for plums, nectarines, and several other commodities is a good case on point. The record indicates merely that "[o]ver the past several years, numerous commodity groups have come to the Congress and asked for authority to provide for [market development and advertising] activities under the terms of their agreement and it has always been granted. This bill combines several such individual requests made by various producer groups operating under marketing agreements or orders." H. R. Rep. No. 89-846, 89th Cong., 1st Sess., 2 (1965). A letter from the Acting Secretary of Agriculture appended to the cited House Report similarly accounts for the choice of covered products solely by reference to grower and handler interest. Id., at 3-4. Or, again, the legislative history of the amendment adding "California-grown peaches" to the list refers only to the view of the Department of Agri-9 The substantive terms of marketing orders under the AMAA as originally enacted were generally limited to restrictions on the total marketable quantity of the commodity, allocations among handlers, disposition of surplus quantities, and maintenance of reserve supplies. 7 U. S. C. § 608c(6) (1934 ed., Supp. III). For the first time in 1954, Congress permitted marketing orders to establish "marketing research and development projects designed to assist, improve, or promote the marketing, distribution, and consumption [of a] commodity or product, the expense of such projects to be paid from funds collected pursuant to the marketing order." 68 Stat. 906; 7 U. S. C. § 608c(6)(I). Since then, Congress has repeatedly amended the Act to authorize, but only for specified commodities, "any form of marketing promotion including paid advertising." Ibid. The first such amendment, in 1962, allowed advertising programs for cherries, Pub. L. 87-703, 76 Stat. 632; similar schemes for plums and nectarines followed in 1965, Pub. L. 89-330, 79 Stat. 1270, and for "California-grown peaches" in 1971, Pub. L. 92-120, 85 Stat. 340; and today, various authorizations cover the 25 commodities listed in § 608c(6)(I). The Act now also permits crediting some or all of a handler's independent expenditures for advertising against his assessment obligations with respect to six commodities (but not nectarines, plums, or peaches). Ibid.
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