SHAHEEN: GOVERNMENT SHOULD NOT MANAGE SUGAR MARKET

(Washington, D.C.) – U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen released the following statement after the USDA announced its intention to adjust sugar import quotas for 2011. (See USDA release here)

“Today, the USDA announced that it would allow more sugar to be sold in the United States for the rest of the year. Whether this has any impact on U.S. sugar prices, currently one-and-a-half times the world average, remains to be seen.

“In a free-market economy, it should not be up to the government how much sugar is sold every year. Yet this is what our out-of-date U.S. sugar policy has evolved into – a government-managed, government-supported market that benefits sugar producers at the expense of consumers. No other commodity is as tightly controlled in the U.S. market. I will continue to work for passage of my SUGAR Act, which will reform sugar policy.”

The SUGAR (Stop Unfair Giveaway and Restrictions) Act is S. 25.