Political Quotes

“the 104th Congress has made getting the Government off people's back and out of business' way a high priority. Given that goal, support for the Miller-Schumer amendment is the only possible decision for the House this evening. I represent one of the largest remaining cane sugar refineries in the United States. The Domino refinery, a landmark in Baltimore's Inner Harbor, directly employs 650 workers at an average wage of $40,000. These are exactly the kinds of jobs we all want to preserve in this Nation. Yet, since the current Government sugar program was put in place in 1981, 11 of 22 cane sugar refineries in this Nation have closed. And problems for the remaining refineries continue. Domino's Baltimore plant has had to shut down nine times over the past year because of a shortage of raw sugar supply. Each of the other remaining U.S. refineries has suffered similar, costly shortages. These problems have been caused directly by the ongoing Federal interference in the sugar industry. Over the past 15 years the sugar program has greatly aided the few wealthy corporations that raise sugar on huge farms and with foreign labor in this Nation. It has hurt the many Americans who work, or used to work, in domestic refineries, and it has indirectly hurt all American consumers. There are many reasons to end the sugar price support program tonight; saving the remaining U.S. refineries is only one. I urge my colleagues to support Miller-Schumer.”