Political Quotes

“The reduced production capacity has resulted in a severe downsizing of the workforce at this refinery. As recently as 1987, C&H employed over 1,400 people. These are not minimum wage jobs we are talking about; the average employee in the cane refining industry earns about $43,000 a year. In 1995, C&H had to eliminate 30 percent of its workforce just to remain viable under the quota system mandated by the sugar program. C&H now employs just over 500 people. These jobs and many others around the Nation are at risk if reforms are not made to the sugar program. In addition to choking off the refineries' access to sugar, the U.S. sugar policy also has had an adverse impact on consumers. An earlier report by the GAO found that the program costs sugar users an average $1.4 billion annually, as has been mentioned. That equates to $3.8 million a day in hidden sugar taxes. The report found that: Although the sugar program is considered a no-net-cost program because the Government does not make payments directly to producers, it places the cost of the price supports on sweetener users--consumers and manufacturers of sweetener-containing products--who pay higher sugar and sweetener prices.”