Patsy T. Mink: “Mr. Chairman, this debate today will include an amendment that is to be offered regarding the sugar program. I rise to…”

“Mr. Chairman, this debate today will include an amendment that is to be offered regarding the sugar program. I rise to take my precious 3 minutes to address this amendment. Of all the Members who have sugar growers, as far as I can see in the statistics, it is grown to a much larger extent in my district than in any other Member's district. There are about 65 Members who have producers of sugar, both cane and beet, and we have a very, very large stake depending upon the outcome of this amendment. The Miller-Schumer amendment basically will eliminate U.S. domestic sugar production. All the market economists and specialists that I have spoken to indicate that if this amendment should pass today and should become law, it will virtually eliminate the U.S. sugar production. For myself and my district, it will mean about 6,000 jobs. So I ask the Members of this Chamber today in debating the farm bill to not talk about this abstract notion of commodities. We are talking about jobs.”