The Hill News

Each October, children and families across the country engage in the time-honored tradition of knocking on neighbors’ doors and asking for candy. But do consumers really know about the tricks that are causing their treats to cost more than they should? The truth is downright frightening.
 
One of our nation’s oldest agriculture policies â€" the U.S. sugar program â€" is an outdated and tightly controlled government program that is long overdue for reform. We are glad to see that a growing number of our colleagues, including Democrats and Republicans from both the House and Senate, are working to enact a bipartisan, comprehensive reform of U.S. sugar policy.

The best forum for this much-needed debate is the Farm Bill that Congress will write next year. At the same time, several sugar reform proposals have been put before the “Super Committee,” which is charged with producing major deficit reduction by November 23. It’s not clear this panel ! will have the time needed to discuss sugar policy, but if the “Super Committee” does take up sugar subsidies, it is vital that they be thoroughly reformed.

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