Agriculture Reform, Food, and Jobs Act of 2013
Floor Speech
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Mr. COATS. Mr. President, I rise to offer my support for the sugar reform amendment being offered on the farm bill by Senator Shaheen. This important amendment would begin a reform process that deals with a complicated and burdensome program that artificially raises sugar prices in the United States. For nearly three-quarters of a century now, American businesses and consumers have paid a premium price for sugar. This inflated price is due to a tangled web of price manipulation, stringent import quotas and tariffs. The net effect has been that Americans are paying as much as twice the world market base price for sugar.
We all realize the amount of sugar that is used in a number of products across the United States, but let me bring this down specifically to what impact it has on some of the confectioners in my home State. Albanese Confectionary Group, Inc, is a renowned Indiana-based manufacturer of a number of products that use a lot of sugars, including chocolates and Gummi bears--they call it the World's Best Gummies--and a lot of other confections. Their estimate is that they would save $3 trillion annually if they were able to buy sugar at the world price.
Lewis Bakeries, headquartered in Evansville, IN, is one of the few remaining independent bakeries in our State and in the Midwest and is the largest wholesale bakery we have. Artificially high prices for Lewis Bakeries contributes directly to higher food and beverage costs that weigh down family budgets. Even larger companies such as Kraft Foods, which has a marshmallow and caramel plant in Kendallville, IN, knows that phasing out the Sugar Program would enhance the competitiveness of U.S. sugar manufacturers.
Why is that important? Because these sugar prices for those in this business of using large quantities of sugar is driving them offshore. They are moving to Canada, they are moving to Mexico, they are moving to other places where they then can buy the most important ingredient for their product at world market prices and save a great deal of money.
I encourage my colleagues to support the Shaheen amendment. It promotes jobs, fights consumer price inflation. It reduces the level of government interference in private markets. I think we should be pursuing policies that allow the free market to determine the cost of sugar rather than this complicated web of tariffs and regulations and others that protect that price.
This amendment does not accomplish all of that, but it goes a long way toward beginning the process of unwinding this and making our companies more competitive around the world.
I would like to take a moment to address another issue with the farm bill. Senator Donnelly and I are cosponsors of a bill called planting flexibility. We are hoping this provision we have offered will be included in the managers' amendment. I appreciate all the work that has been done behind the scenes to address this important issue. Planting flexibility simply allows farmers to respond to market signals when making their planting decisions, rather than following requirements to grow a particular crop to participate in government programs.
For example, Hoosier tomato farmers were restricted on where they could plant their crop. Red Gold, a family-owned and operated tomato business in Elwood, IN, estimates that roughly 50 percent of its tomatoes are now grown on flexible acres. Red Gold produces a whole number of tomato products that are sold all over the United States and, in fact, all over the world.
Allowing this flexibility, again, is a free-market-based choice which producers can follow based on supply and demand. It gives them the flexibility they need to address crops outside the coverage of this particular bill.
I think both of these measures are commonsense, market-driven reforms that I hope will be included in the farm bill, and I ask that my colleagues support them.
Mr. President, unless the ranking member on the Agriculture Committee needs the time, and since no one else is on the floor, I would be remiss in not speaking a little longer.
If I could speak as if in morning business, I wish to do so.
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Mr. COATS. Mr. President, the first thing I want to do is extend our sincere regrets over the tragedy which occurred in Oklahoma. Sincere thoughts and prayers are coming from many Hoosiers for those people who have suffered greatly.
Last year we had a serious tornado roar through southern Indiana along a 50-mile path. Fortunately, we didn't have the level of destruction they had in Oklahoma City. But having been there and viewed the destruction of that tornado in Indiana and the impact it had on the lives of so many people and then comparing it with what happened in Oklahoma, it certainly brings home the nature of this tragedy. Whenever Mother Nature's vicious wrath strikes, it not only tears apart homes but families.
During these times of tragedy--such as what I witnessed in southern Indiana and what we are witnessing on television as we watch what is happening in Oklahoma--we see the extraordinary heroism, generosity, volunteerism, and resolve of the American people to pitch in and help.
I ask all Hoosiers to keep our friends in Oklahoma in their hearts and prayers and to help wherever we can.
JOBS AND DEBT
Mr. President, in the last few weeks there has been scandal after scandal unfolding in Washington. Obviously this is a difficult period for the current administration, but more importantly, it has resulted in a difficult time for our Nation.
What we saw last week is further justification for the American people's deeply disturbing distrust of government. Under this current administration, there has been a pattern of misleading the American people and there has been a culture of intimidation toward those who disagree with their policies.
We saw it when the administration misled the American people with the events in Benghazi, and we saw it when the administration avoided letting people know about the IRS targeting conservative groups. Whether it is the IRS, Benghazi, or other issues we have become aware of in the last few weeks and months, they call into question the integrity of this administration. The American people deserve straight talk and the truth as to what happened rather than the mischaracterization or lack of revelation of what has happened.
Through calls, emails, and letters, I am hearing from concerned Hoosiers who are outraged with what they see taking place in Washington. Given the headlines they have seen in the last few weeks, they have every right to be concerned.
The only way to eliminate this current trust deficit in Washington is to hold people accountable, get complete answers, and make changes to ensure this abuse of power and misinformation which is coming out of this administration will not continue. We need to continue with these ongoing investigations until we get answers and determine who is responsible.
In the midst of these investigations, let me state there is another scandal we must not overlook, and that is the ongoing chronic debt and unemployment crisis.
Four-and-a-half years after the end of an admittedly deep recession, the fact that 22 million Americans are either unemployed or underemployed is a scandal. More than $16.8 trillion of debt, with its impact on future generations, is a scandal. Borrowing $40,000 per second and saddling each child born today in America with over $50,000 of debt is a scandal. These numbers are not partisan or political, they are the facts. Those are the facts that this body, as well as this administration, have to deal with because we are careening on an unstable fiscal path which will bankrupt the critical programs our seniors and retirees depend on and rob them of the benefits they have been promised.
We are seeing meager gains in jobs only to find out more and more Americans are being forced from full-time employment to part-time employment. In April alone, nearly 280,000 Americans involuntarily entered into part-time employment. At the same time, the average work week and weekly take-home pay continues to decline.
These two issues--our debt crisis and our jobs crisis--should consume the work of this Congress and this administration. Instead, we careen from drama to drama. We wait for the fiscal cliff and debt limit deadlines, and then we enact far short from what we need to do with legislation that is often flawed, such as the across-the-board sequestration policy. None of this remotely solves the problem we face.
In a recent Gallup poll, when asked what they would like Congress and the President to address, 86 percent of the American people named creating jobs and growing the economy. From Fort Wayne to Evansville and from Gary to Jeffersonville, Hoosiers tell me they want Congress to bring growth and certainty to our economy and create meaningful jobs for the underemployed and unemployed.
As we address the issues before us, let's not forget about this major debt crisis which faces our country and impacts every American. Let's not forget about those Americans who are looking for work and cannot find it, or those who have been forced into part-time jobs which will not begin to be enough to support a family. Let's not become distracted and drop the ball on tackling these issues because the daily headlines are simply pointing to something else.
The best way we can restore the trust deficit in this country is to do our job here, make the tough decisions we know we need to make, and address our greatest challenge.
We must come together on a credible, long-term plan to reduce our debt and put our country back on a path toward growth and job creation. The future of our country depends upon it. Each of us, starting with the President, has a moral obligation to address this most critical issue. I hope we will be willing to stand up and do this.
Yes, we have other issues. We have the farm bill, which we need to address. We will be talking about immigration a week after we come back from the break. We will be holding investigations and looking into some of these scandals that have surfaced over the last few weeks, but we still have not focused on the real problem here.
While we have to do these other tasks, let us not forget what the real challenge is before us: restoring economic growth and creating jobs. We owe it to the American people.
With that, I yield the floor.
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