Expressing Sense of House Relating to Tariff-Rate Quotas for Raw and Refined Sugar

Floor Speech

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Mr. CRAMER. Madam Speaker, I thank the ranking member and my neighbor for yielding the time and for his leadership on this very important issue that supports the sugar farmers of the Red River Valley of the north, and I am very pleased to confirm that there is, in fact, plenty of room for all of our colleagues to attend American Crystal Sugar's annual meeting; so I appreciate his invitation, as well.

How many Federal programs only cost money every 10 to 12 years? We hear that this program has cost $250 million since July. Yeah, since July of 2002. That's all it has cost.

I want to speak less, perhaps, to the merits of the program because they have already been so eloquently illustrated and speak more to an issue of unity. At a time when unity is so rare, it is unfortunate that some of our colleagues have chosen to attempt to dismantle one of the very few, frankly, successful achievements of this Congress.

The committee work on the 2013 farm bill began years ago before many of us were even elected to Congress. An anti-sugar amendment was thoughtfully debated on this floor, including the provisions in this resolution, and the House killed it. At that time, a sense of the House was reached and a farm bill was passed.

The Senate passed the exact same language pertaining to the sugar program that is making today's action not only divisive, but a total waste of time, as House rules prohibit the conferees from even considering its language. This maneuver undermines the very integrity of this great institution, and it ignores the unifying achievement of this farm bill by dismantling the support system for our sugar farmers who are facing a 57 percent collapse in prices as we speak.

We don't need more division, Madam Speaker. We need accomplishments. Let's not impose division where there is unity. Let's vote ``no'' on this amendment. Let's allow our conferees to do their jobs, bring back a report that a majority of us can vote for and a farm bill that we can all vote for, that the Senate can agree to, that the President can sign, and demonstrate our functionality once again.

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