WASHINGTON, D.C. – In response to a letter sent to the Chairman and Ranking Member of the House Agriculture Committee from the Co-Chairs of the Problem Solvers Caucus, the Executive Director of the Alliance for Fair Sugar Policy, Grant Colvin, released the following statement:
“The Alliance for Fair Sugar Policy applauds Representatives Gottheimer and Fitzpatrick for their bipartisan call to include common-sense reforms to the U.S. sugar program in the upcoming farm bill. As the Representatives point out in their letter to House Agriculture Committee leadership, this nearly 90-year-old program places American businesses at a competitive disadvantage, raises food prices for families across the country, and costs the U.S. good-paying food manufacturing jobs.
“Representatives Gottheimer and Fitzpatrick also rightly note that unlike other commodity support programs, the U.S. sugar program has not been updated to reflect our modern farm and food economy. The farm bill re-authorization process is the right time to make targeted, bipartisan reforms to the U.S. sugar program, and provide much-needed relief to American consumers and businesses struggling under the weight of artificially high sugar prices.”
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The Alliance for Fair Sugar Policy (AFSP) is a broad-based coalition advocating to modernize the outdated U.S. sugar program established by Congress more than 80 years ago. Formed by a sizeable group of small, family-owned businesses and manufacturers, retailers, food and beverage companies, trade associations, environmental advocates, taxpayer watchdog organizations, responsible government advocates, think tanks and other organizations, the group’s goal is to help level the playing field for American manufacturers and provide relief to family budgets by establishing a fairer, simpler U.S. sugar program. To learn more about the Alliance for Fair Sugar Policy and the need for sugar reform, please visit FairSugarPolicy.org or follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.