Judd Gregg: “The Sugar Program in this country has proceeded since the early 1980's to be a program of inordinate subsidy for a few…”

“The Sugar Program in this country has proceeded since the early 1980's to be a program of inordinate subsidy for a few small farmers--for a few farmers; they are not small farmers--at the expense of the consumers of this country. Last year, it was estimated that the Sugar Program cost the consumers of this country approximately $1.4 billion. It has cost the consumers of this country approximately $10 billion over the last decade. That is because we have in this country a system in the Sugar Program where we artificially inflate the cost of sugar to benefit a few growers of sugarcane and some sugar beets, but primarily in this instance it is benefiting sugarcane growers. This makes no sense. This program is appropriately tied to sugar, I guess, because the last vestiges of Marxism in the world of any significance is the nation of Cuba, which always had a sugar-based economy.”