Charles W. Stenholm: “I cannot believe some Members have the gall to come here and to complain about the sugar industry in the United States.…”

“I cannot believe some Members have the gall to come here and to complain about the sugar industry in the United States. We have 400,000 jobs on the line. There are 400,000 producers. If this amendment passes, they will go out of business in the United States because we cannot lower the prices anymore to producers in the United States and stay in business. That is the given fact of this amendment. We talk about the consumer, American consumers have got the best bargain in the world with the exception of Canada and Australia. Canada and Australia consumers get a better deal at the sugar counter than we do. But take a look at the advantage that Australia and Canada have in the value of the dollar. When we talk about the free market and the free enterprise system, if we are having to compete, whether it is in sugar or airplanes or whatever we are in, if we have to compete, in this case with sugar, and Canada being the largest importer of sugar into the United States, they have roughly a 50 percent advantage.”