October 11, 2013            
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C.  20515

Dear Representative,

Tomorrow, you will consider H. Res. 378, a resolution sponsored by Rep. Joe Pitts (R-Pa.) which urges House Farm Bill conferees to repeal tariff rate quotas language and subsequently restore the Secretary of Agriculture’s authority to manage supplies of sugar throughout the marketing year to meet domestic demand at reasonable prices.  On behalf of the more than one million members and supports of the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW), I urge you to support this legislation.

Over the past four years, the costly Depression-era federal sugar program has imposed a $14 billion hidden food tax on American consumers and businesses in order to provide a special interest subsidy to sugar producers.  U.S. sugar prices have been 64 to 92 percent higher than world averages during that period of time.  Due in large part to high prices, nearly 127,000 jobs were lost in U.S. sugar-using industries between 1997 and 2011.  In addition, the U.S. Department of Commerce estimates that for every sugar-growing job saved through high U.S. sugar prices, approximately three American manufacturing jobs are lost.  Furthermore, while only 4,700 sugar farms in the United States benefit from the federal sugar program, there are approximately 600,000 U.S. jobs in food industries that use sugar.

While our preference would be to dissolve the Soviet-style, command-and-control sugar program altogether, Rep. Pitts’ resolution is a welcome start.  The legislation would encourage greater competition in the U.S. sugar market, without unnecessary and costly government intrusion.  I urge you to support the resolution.  All votes on H. Res. 378 will be among those considered in CCAGW’s 2013 Congressional Ratings.

Sincerely,

Tom Schatz
President, CCAGW