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Tell Congress It’s Time to Take off the Tractor Training Wheels

(June 27, 2013) – American sugar farmers can compete with any sugar farmers anywhere on the planet…on a level playing field. Unfortunately, many foreign farmers still have “training wheels” on their tractors.

Those training wheels come in the form of government subsidies which often artificially reduce the cost of foreign sugar as compared to U.S. prices.

On the other hand, U.S. sugar producers receive ZERO dollars in taxpayer subsidy checks and U.S. sugar policy was the only U.S. farm program to cost exactly ZERO dollars from 2002-2012.

However, because of the danger posed by subsidized foreign sugar, there are protective quotas currently imposed on foreign sugar imports.

As free-market conservatives, import quotas – even though they don’t directly cost taxpayers any money – are not the ideal. That’s why Citizen Outreach is encouraging Congress to get rid of the sugar quotas, in return for foreign government’s getting rid of their direct subsidies.

It’s a strategy being called “Zero for Zero.” And Rep. Ted Yoho has introduced a resolution in Congress urging the Obama administration to pursue it.

HCR 39 expresses the sense of Congress “that all direct and indirect subsidies that benefit the production or export of sugar by all major sugar producing and consuming countries should be eliminated.”

And now you can be a “Citizen Co-Sponsor” of this resolution.

Just click here, read the resolution (it’s relatively short) and if you’d like to add your name to the list of American citizens who support it…just enter your information on the page.

Once we have everyone signed up, we’ll present a copy of the resolution – with your name and the names of the other “Citizen Co-Sponsors” – to Rep. Yoho to show our support.

Again, to add your name to the list, just CLICK HERE