Friday, August 8, 2008

“50 Days, 50 Ways” Now Part of a Balanced Breakfast

Bosse Targets Milk, Sugar, and Orange Juice Subsidies

(Keene) Republican Grant Bosse today targeted the federal government’s wasteful subsidies and price supports on milk, sugar, and orange juice. These programs not only waste taxpayer dollars, but drive up the price of basic foods for all Americans. Bosse proposes deregulating milk pricing, ending sugar subsidies, and terminating the Citrus Canker Compensation Program. Eliminating these subsidies and programs would save taxpayers $1.3 billion annually.

“A failed farm policy and a falling dollar make it more expensive for American families to buy even basic staples like milk, juice, and sugar. We need to get Congress out of the way in order to get food prices under control,” Bosse said. “Eliminating these three programs will not only save more than a billion dollars every year, but it will make each trip to the grocery store a little more affordable.”

The federal government regulates milk pricing through a complex series of subsidies, price supports, and regulations. Ending this practice would allow dairy farmers to seek the best price for their products, free from Congressional interference. In addition to direct subsidies for sugar, Congress also protects sugar producers from competition by blocking imports, forcing Americans to pay far above world market prices for sugar and sugar products. The Citrus Canker Compensation Program pays farmers who lose citrus trees to a bacterial infection, but does not apply to farmers who choose to plant other crops.

“We need to stop spending tax dollars just to make food more expensive,” Bosse added. “Americans deserve both a balanced breakfast and a balanced budget.”

To date, Bosse has proposed more than $10.2 billion in taxpayer savings by eliminating unnecessary federal programs. To learn more about Bosse’s aggressive grassroots campaign, go to www.Bosse2008.com.

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