Thad Cochran: “I will be proposing an amendment, joined by Senators Gregg and Schumer, that will stop the Federal Government from…”

“I will be proposing an amendment, joined by Senators Gregg and Schumer, that will stop the Federal Government from wasting taxpayers' dollars on an unnecessary and outdated sugar program that costs consumers as much as $2 billion in inflated sugar prices. The amendment is simple. It withholds funding for the costly Federal sugar program for fiscal year 2001. Mr. President, my colleagues and I are here today to say enough is enough. The American taxpayers have subsidized the sugar industry, with price support loans and strict import quotas in various forms, since 1934. Each year American taxpayers pay close to $2 billion in artificially high sugar prices and this year paid an additional $60 million to bail out sugar producers facing massive loan defaults.”