Sam Farr: “Look, this is our annual fight. We are all used to it. It is a fight between special interests, on one side the candy…”

“Look, this is our annual fight. We are all used to it. It is a fight between special interests, on one side the candy manufacturers, and on the other side the farmers of America and the countries that we support in other parts of the world. I think when one has a choice, go with the farmers. They are the ones that are farming the land and harvesting the product. In fact, when we buy the sugar at our price, we are also helping, our neighboring countries; we are helping the people of El Salvador who suffered from Hurricane Mitch. We are helping the other Central American countries, and our friends in the Caribbean, because we pay a much better price than the world market, and we allow these countries then to get a better sugar price and pass that on to their workers. We also help some African nations by importing their sugar. If you vote against this amendment, you are not only helping the farmers of America, you are helping the foreign farmers that our foreign aid programs are also trying to help in a much better way than just doling out money. This is an amendment that we argue against every year, and it should be continually defeated.”