Earl Pomeroy: “I represent the family farmers of the Red River Valley. They are descendants of the families that broke the prairie of…”

“I represent the family farmers of the Red River Valley. They are descendants of the families that broke the prairie of the northern plains and are now raising sugar beets as part of an industry that they have grown with their own sweat and tears. This industry from the farmers to the workers in the processing plants today amounts to an economic impact of $2 billion to $3 billion and nearly 30,000 jobs in our rural region alone. The CAFTA deal places all of this at risk. It allows sugar to pour in from the CAFTA countries whose wages have no relation to ours, and whose environmental protections in their plants are all but nonexistent. That is just the start, because this will serve as a precedent for any number of trade deals with sugar-producing countries to follow. Some supporters argue we should not even have a domestic sugar industry anymore, that these farms and these jobs should be sacrificed at the altar of free trade just like so many jobs that have been lost in the flawed trade deals that have gone on before. We are now at the deepest trade deficit in the history of our country. My colleagues, this year we are on track to import more food than we sell. The United States of America. A net food importer. This has to end. When will it end? When will we decide U.S. jobs are worth fighting for and that the economic hopes and dreams of our families are what we ought to be representing? It should end tonight.…”