Coalition Welcomes Senate Bill to Cut Sugar Program

(IDFA) –  Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Mark Kirk (R-IL) and Pat Toomey (R-PA) have reintroduced the Sugar Reform Act, which would change domestic supply restrictions and lower price support levels in the U.S. sugar program. The Coalition for Sugar Reform, of which IDFA is a member, welcomed the bipartisan bill and applauded the senators for their leadership and continued efforts toward sugar reform.

The U.S. sugar program consists of price supports, marketing allotments and tariff-rate quotas that manipulate the U.S. market to limit the amount of sugar available. The program, which also guarantees a minimum price for sugar, has cost consumers up to $3.5 billion annually, with taxpayers contributing nearly $300 million in fiscal year 2013. The Congressional Budget Office, in its January 2015 Baseline for Farm Programs, forecasts that the program will cost taxpayers $163 million over the next 10 years.

The senators introduced the bill in the last Congress, but it was not included in the farm bill. For more details on the bill, read an exclusive excerpt from The Hagstrom Report.

IDFA and other members of the coalition look forward to working with the Senate to enact sugar reform and welcome the opportunity to work with reform champions in the House of Representatives on similar legislation. Read the press release here.