Rep. Elijah Cummings is in the pocket of the nation's beet and cane sugar cartels. Mr. Cummings continually votes to maintain the U.S. sugar program. Why? It is really quite simple, Congressman Cummings received well over $50,000 in political donations from the sugar cartels since coming to Washington in 1996.
Thanks to Rep. Cummings and others, the U.S. Sugar Program continues. The sugar program is a Soviet style command and control scheme that restricts planting and imports. This inflates the price of sugar in the United States to almost double the world price. So, when you go to the store to buy a snack cake or anything sweetened, you pay more. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the program means Americans pay $3.5 billion every year in increased grocery costs, which breaks down to $58 per household.
In Rep. Cummings' 21 years in office, he repeatedly voted against sugar reform, costing each Maryland family an additional $1,218 for groceries. You have to ask yourself, is my congressman really fighting to make life better, or is he just another politician in it for the campaign contributions? It's time for Congressman Cummings to step up and end this costly government giveaway to the cartels!
Nicholas A. Pyle
The writer is president of the Independent Bakers' Association.
Send letters to the editor to talkback@baltimoresun.com. Please include your name and contact information.
