Dick Lugar's Free Sugar Act of 2011
Freeing Americans from Government Control of Sugar Prices
The Senator Dick Lugar (R-IN) Free Sugar Act of 2011 would create a free market in sugar, free small businesses and consumers from paying government-inflated food prices, and free sugar producers from the commands of Washington.
“The New Deal-era sugar program has been big government at its worst for decades,” Lugar explained," said Lugar. “It picks the pocket of every American with a hidden tax, drives jobs overseas, and enriches a handful of powerful sugar producers in the United States. It is one of the worst forms of government interventionism in America.”
“Cutting sugar subsidies was among the first votes I took in the Senate in 1977,” Lugar said. “We have made several efforts to further cut wasteful sugar programs and reform the entire Farm Bill. With more Members of Congress willing to take on reform efforts, it is time to finish the job.”
The price of sugar affects food and beverage costs for all Americans. Every time Hoosiers see sugar listed as a food ingredient, they should know that they are paying more than they need to because of the current federal sugar program.
Currently, U.S. sugar prices are at or near all-time record highs. The U.S. sugar program raises U.S. sugar prices well above the world sugar price, forcing U.S. consumers, small businesses, and food manufactures to pay more for sugar than their foreign counterparts. On the world market, people pay 34 cents per pound for refined sugar – 20 cents less than Americans pay due to our sugar program. And the 10-year average price through 2009 for refined sugar is 13 cents per pound – less than half the U.S. price.
These artificially high domestic sugar prices are especially costly for American small businesses like bakers, candy-makers, and restaurants using sugar, and it hurts U.S. food manufacturers that compete with imports that benefit from lower world sugar prices. In other words, the federal government sugar program supports sugar producers at the expense of Hoosier families and employers. A recent estimate put the cost of the U.S. sugar program to all Americans at $4 billion each year.
Letters of Support:
Kraft Foods - Kendallville, Indiana
Lewis Brothers Bakeries - Locations in Evansville, Fort Wayne, LaPorte & Vincennes, Indiana
Aunt Millies - Locations in Fort Wayne, Indiana
Midwest Food Processors Association, Inc.
Grocery Manufacturers Association
Competitive Enterprise Institute
Emergency Committee for American Trade
Grocery Manufacturers Association
Independent Bakers Association
International Dairy Foods Association
National Association of Manufacturers
National Confectioners Association National Foreign Trade Council
Free Sugar Act in the News:
Close the Candy Store - Investors.com - April 13, 2011
Big Sugar and the Everglades - Gainsville Sun - April 8, 2011
Sugar policy reform bills attract industry support - BakeryandSnacks.com - April 8, 2011
Spoon full of sugar needed to stomach U.S. trade policy - Heritage Foundation - April 6, 2011
Time To End Sweet Deal For Sugar Growers - PerishableNews.com - April 6, 2011
Every Tea Party Needs Sugar - Heritage Foundation - April 5, 2011
Easter's Bunny's Burden - Cato Institute blog - April 1, 2011
Lugar wants to end America's sugar cartel - Seeking Alpha blog - April 1, 2011
Uncle Sam, Sugar Daddy - The Atlantic - March 31, 2011
Big Sugar's sweet deal leave a bad aftertaste - Americans for Tax Reform - March 31, 2011
Lugar bill fights hidden sugar tax - Fort Wayne Journal Gazette - March 31, 2011
Lugar takes on sweet sugar deals - Citizens Against Government Waste - March 31, 2011
Lugar targets Federal sugar racket - Red State blog - March 31, 2011
Lugar sweetens sugar appeal with cupcakes, Peeps - The Hill - March 31, 2011
DJ Senate bill seeks to kill U.S. sugar support - Dow Jones Wire - March 30, 2011
Lugar wants sugar subsidies halted - Fort Wayne Journal Gazette - March 30, 2011
Lugar's Bill to Repeal U.S. Sugar Program - Competitive Enterprise Institute - March 30, 2011
Lugar Targets Federal Sugar Racket - CATO Institute blog - March 30, 2011
Stop the Sweet Deal for Sugar, Says Senator Lugar - OpenMarket.org - March 30, 2011
Sweet deal for Big Sugar - Washington Times - March 29, 2011
Lugar's Sugar Fix - National Review Online - March 21, 2011