Daniel Akaka: “The sugar program remains a great bargain for the American consumer. It's also one of the least expensive food items you…”

“The sugar program remains a great bargain for the American consumer. It's also one of the least expensive food items you will find in an American kitchen. Sugar is probably the best bargain you can find at the grocery store today. American sugar farmers and the U.S. sugar program help make sugar affordable. Consumers elsewhere around the globe do not enjoy the low prices we have in America. If you visit a grocery store in other industrialized nations you will get 'sticker shock' when you pass the sugar display. Thanks to a farm program that assures stable supplies at reasonable prices, sugar is a remarkable value for American consumers. U.S. consumers pay an average of 17 cents less per pound of sugar than their counterparts in other industrialized nations. Low U.S. prices save consumers more than a billion dollars annually. That's why I say that the sugar program is a great deal for American consumers. I urge my colleagues to reject this amendment. If Congress terminates the sugar program, not only will a dynamic part of the economy disappear from many rural areas, but consumers will also lose a reliable supply of high-quality, low-price sugar.”