James Barcia: “Sugar Producers have been helping pay down our deficit for many years now. In fact the Congressional Budget Office…”

“Sugar Producers have been helping pay down our deficit for many years now. In fact the Congressional Budget Office estimates that sugar producers will have actually paid $288 million into the federal treasury by the end of 2002. So the recent $54 million sugar purchase by the USDA represents only a fraction of what sugar producers have already given to the government. As lawmakers, when we committed ourselves to helping farmers, we committed ourselves to helping all farmers. That's why I oppose the Miller amendment--because it singles out 2,880 farmers and more than 23,000 beet-sugar related jobs in Michigan alone. But Michigan is not alone--the whole country profits from the sugar industry. Sugar related employment represents 420,000 jobs in 40 states and over $26 billion in economic activity. Sugar farmers and workers need our help. Please don't abandon them in their time of need. This amendment has already been struck down on a point of order, but I urge my colleagues to vote no in the future on any anti-farmer amendment like this one.”