Durbin Cosponsors Bill To Reform The Sugar Program And Save Consumers Billions

Press Release

U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today cosponsored a bipartisan bill that would reform the U.S. sugar program which supports artificially high sugar prices and cost consumers and businesses an estimated $14 billion since 2008. The sugar program hurts American workers by driving good jobs overseas; it hurts American consumers by increasing the price of products made with sugar; and it hurts sugar producers by driving down long term demand for their product. It is estimated that high sugar prices are responsible for 125,000 jobs lost in U.S. sugar-using industries since 1997.

"Illinois has lost thousands of good-paying jobs in the food and candy industry as companies have closed plants or moved them offshore in order to compete with imported products made with much cheaper, world-priced sugar," said Durbin. "It's estimated that for each sugar growing and harvesting job saved through high U.S. sugar prices, nearly three confectionery manufacturing jobs are lost. The sugar policy reforms in today's bill are good for farmers, consumers, processors, and taxpayers."

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