On the recordOctober 11, 2013
I thank my colleague from Minnesota. I oppose the gentleman from Pennsylvania's resolution, H. Res. 378. Sugar is the only commodity where the U.S. is a net importer. This puts U.S. producers at a disadvantage. Our sugar farmers have to compete with sugar-producing governments and countries that heavily subsidize their farmers' production. Yes, this year this program did cost our government, but it is because Mexico is allowed to dump their sugar on our market because of NAFTA. This is a trade issue that we need to look at deeper. U.S. farmers would gladly give up their safety net as long as every other country discontinued their heavily subsidized programs as well. U.S. sugar farmers can compete with any other foreign sugar farmer and we can out-perform them, but they can't compete against a foreign government and subsidies. At the end of the day, this is a jobs issue. There are over 142,000 jobs in the domestic sugar industry, with over 12,000 in Florida alone. Many of these jobs would move to Brazil or Mexico if the intent of this resolution becomes law. There again, another industry would be weakened by our government policies. We in government should work to keep America stronger and more competitive, and I urge my colleagues to vote against this resolution.
