News Release
Congressman Bob Etheridge
North Carolina

September 30, 2003

                                       Contact: Sara Lang
                                       Phone: (202) 225-4531

Etheridge: President Must Support Tobacco Buyout Legislation

RALEIGH - Just days after introducing bipartisan, consensus tobacco buyout legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge (D-Lillington) today sent a letter to President Bush urging him to actively and publicly support buyout legislation on behalf of North Carolina's farm families. Etheridge, who recently introduced H.R. 3160, the Tobacco Reduction, Accountability and Community Enhancement (TRACE) Act, with Reps. Ernie Fletcher (R-KY), Virgil Goode (R-VA) and Mike McIntyre (D-NC), reminded the President that preliminary studies show this legislation would create more than 30,000 jobs in its first year of implementation.

"Tobacco country is hurting, and the President must lend his support to buyout legislation that would help thousands of farm families stay on the farm and out of bankruptcy," Etheridge said. "The quota system has imploded, leaving farmers fighting to stay afloat. They can't wait much longer, and the President's support is crucial to moving this buyout legislation quickly through Congress."

Because of declining tobacco leaf purchases from tobacco companies, the federal government has reduced tobacco quotas by approximately 50 percent since 1997, cutting in half the incomes of both tobacco growers and quota holders. This year, tobacco quota was cut 9.5 percent, the largest cut in a generation, resulting in the smallest crop since 1874. A tobacco buyout would reform the current tobacco quota system, compensating tobacco quota holders for the elimination of quota, assisting tobacco farmers with the transition and injecting nearly $6 billion into rural North Carolina's economy.

Under the TRACE Act, buyout payments would be based on an average of tobacco quota from 1997 through 2002. Tobacco quota owners would receive $8 per pound for quota owned after July 1, 2002. Farmers would receive $4 for their average tobacco production from 2000-2002. These payments would be made in equal amounts over a seven-year period.

   
   
   
   

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