| WASHINGTON -- The Senate Finance Committee Dec. 4 approved an amendment
that would put a stop to circumvention schemes designed to get around
tariff-rate quotas on sugars, syrups and sugar-containing products.
The amendment was offered by Sen. John Breaux, D-La., and Sen. Craig
Thomas, R-Wyo., and had the support of Finance Committee Chairman Max
Baucus, D-Mont., as well as the majority of the members of the committee.
Legal authority
Under the amendment, the secretary of agriculture will have the clear
legal authority to halt products created solely to circumvent U.S. tariff
laws. The secretary will be able to do this without time-consuming and
expensive court proceedings. The most infamous of the sugar tariff
circumvention products has commonly been referred to as "stuffed
molasses" because of a scheme whereby a molasses syrup containing
liquid sugar was shipped into the United States from Canada, the sugar
extracted and sold, and then the molasses was shipped back to Canada to
repeat the stuffing process.
"But there are other products designed to evade legitimate import
tariffs, and these schemes are limited only by the imagination of the mind
of man," says Dalton Yancey, chairman of the American Sugar Alliance.
The Dec. 4 "action addresses the circumvention problem in a
comprehensive and logical fashion," he says.
The Breaux-Thomas amendment "sends a signal to the sugar
marketplace that circumvention of U.S. import laws will not be tolerated
and it discourages the creation of products similar to stuffed
molasses," Breaux says.
The Breaux-Thomas amendment was attached to the Trade Adjustment
Assistance bill, S. 1209. The committee now awaits the scheduling of floor
time for Senate consideration of the bill.
Comments from lawmakers, officials
Jackie Theriot, a sugarcane grower and sugar mill operator from St.
Martinville, La., and chairman of the American Sugar Cane League, had high
praise for the work Breaux has done on the amendment. "Sen. Breaux
and his staff have worked diligently, and tirelessly, to get this
amendment attached to the proper bill so that schemes by those who would
mock U.S. tariff rules can be stopped. Today was a big step forward for
all of us who want to see our laws upheld, and we owe sincere thanks to
Sen. Breaux for this victory."
The president of the Idaho Sugarbeet Growers Association, Perry
Meuleman of Rupert, Idaho, says, "Although Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho)
is not a member of the Senate Finance Committee, where this amendment was
considered today, no one has worked harder with Sen. Breaux to get this
problem resolved than Sen. Craig. He has spent four years, I know,
pursuing this stuffed molasses circumvention scheme, determined to get it
stopped. He can take pride in the progress made today, and those of us in
the American sugar industry thank him."
In Billings, Mont., Rick Dorn, chairman of the board, Rocky Mountain
Sugar Growers Cooperative, had high praise for Finance Committee Chairman
Baucus. "Sen. Baucus has been understanding and supportive of our
efforts to get the sugar import quota circumvention problems solved, once
and for all. Without his guidance on the committee, the amendment wouldn't
have been successful today."
In Worland, Wyo., Richard McKamey, president of the Washakie Beet
Growers Association, gave a ringing endorsement to the amendment's
co-sponsor, Thomas. "All of us who farm sugar beets, sugarcane, and
corn for sweetener, owe a debt of gratitude to Craig Thomas for
co-sponsoring this amendment that, when it gets all the way through
Congress, will put an end to those who try to make a sham out of our laws,
hurting the entire American sweetener industry and the consumers who
depend on us for a quality supply of sweeteners at reasonable costs."
Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., a member of the Finance Committee, was
praised by Paul Mathiason of Grand Forks, N.D., vice president of the
American Sugarbeet Growers Association. Mathiason says, "Sen. Conrad
has worked with us all along to close the stuffed molasses loophole and to
get in place a comprehensive solution to the problem of sugar import quota
circumvention. He has been most supportive in this long struggle. Today, I
know, is a happy day for him because of the progress he sees being made,
and it is certainly a happy day for sugar beet farmers throughout the Red
River Valley." |