I

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1850

To amend the Agricultural Market Transition Act to convert the price support

program for sugarcane and sugar beets into a system of solely recourse

loans and to provide for the gradual elimination of the program.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 18, 1999

Mr. MILLER of Florida (for himself, Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California, Mr.

GOSS, Mr. KOLBE, Mr. FORBES, Mr. WAXMAN, Mr. ROYCE, Mr. SHAYS,

Mr. WOLF, Mrs. NORTHUP, Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN, Mr. BLAGOJEVICH,

Mr. SUNUNU, Mr. STARK, Mr. MEEHAN, Mr. SANFORD, Mr. BASS, Mr.

CAMPBELL, Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania, Mr. PORTMAN, Mr. BERMAN,

Mr. VISCLOSKY, Mr. HINCHEY, Mr. HUTCHINSON, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. CASTLE, Mr. HANSEN, Mr. COOK, Mr. COYNE, Mr. ENGLISH, Mr. ROHRABACHER, Mr. SOUDER, Mr. WEINER, Mr. SHAW, Mr. SCARBOROUGH,

Mr. PORTER, Mr. COBURN, Mr. HORN, Mr. RAMSTAD, Mr. WAMP, Mr.

SENSENBRENNER, Mrs. ROUKEMA, Mr. KINGSTON, and Mr. SALMON) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture

A BILL

To amend the Agricultural Market Transition Act to convert

the price support program for sugarcane and sugar beets

into a system of solely recourse loans and to provide

for the gradual elimination of the program.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Sugar Program Re3 form Act’’.

4 SEC. 2. RECOURSE LOANS FOR PROCESSORS OF SUGAR5 CANE AND SUGAR BEETS AND REDUCTION IN

6 LOAN RATES.

7 (a) GRADUAL REDUCTION IN LOAN RATES.—

8 (1) SUGARCANE PROCESSOR LOANS.—Sub9 section (a) of section 156 of the Agricultural Market

10 Transition Act (7 U.S.C. 7272) is amended by strik11 ing ‘‘equal to 18 cents per pound for raw cane

12 sugar.’’ and inserting the following: ‘‘, per pound for

13 raw cane sugar, equal to the following:

14 ‘‘(1) In the case of raw cane sugar processed

15 from the 1996 through 1998 crops, $0.18.

16 ‘‘(2) In the case of raw cane sugar processed

17 from the 1999 crop, $0.17.

18 ‘‘(3) In the case of raw cane sugar processed

19 from the 2000 crop, $0.16.

20 ‘‘(4) In the case of raw cane sugar processed

21 from the 2001 crop, $0.15.

22 ‘‘(5) In the case of raw cane sugar processed

23 from the 2002 crop, $0.14.’’.

24 (2) SUGAR BEET PROCESSOR LOANS.—Sub25 section (b) of such section is amended by striking

26 ‘‘equal to 22.9 cents per pound for refined beet
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1 sugar.’’ and inserting the following: ‘‘, per pound of

2 refined beet sugar, that reflects—

3 ‘‘(1) an amount that bears the same relation to

4 the loan rate in effect under subsection (a) for a

5 crop as the weighted average of producer returns for

6 sugar beets bears to the weighted average of pro7 ducer returns for sugarcane, expressed on a cents

8 per pound basis for refined beet sugar and raw cane

9 sugar, for the most recent five-year period for which

10 data are available; plus

11 ‘‘(2) an amount that covers sugar beet proc12 essor fixed marketing expenses.’’.

13 (b) CONVERSION TO RECOURSE LOANS.—Subsection

14 (e) of such section is amended—

15 (1) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘only’’ after

16 ‘‘this section’’; and

17 (2) by striking paragraphs (2) and (3) and in18 serting the following new paragraph:

19 ‘‘(2) NATIONAL LOAN RATES.—Recourse loans

20 under this section shall be made available at all loca21 tions nationally at the rates specified in this section,

22 without adjustment to provide regional differen23 tials.’’.

24 (c) CONVERSION TO PRIVATE SECTOR FINANCING.—

25 Such section is further amended—
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1 (1) by redesignating subsection (i) as subsection

2 (j);

3 (2) by inserting after subsection (h) the fol4 lowing new subsection:

5 ‘‘(i) CONVERSION TO PRIVATE SECTOR FINANC6 ING.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no

7 processor of the 2003 or subsequent crops of sugarcane

8 or sugar beets shall be eligible for loans under this section

9 with respect to such crops, and the Secretary of Agri10 culture may not make price support available, whether in

11 the form of loans, payments, purchases, or other oper12 ations, for the 2003 and subsequent crops of sugar beets

13 and sugarcane by using the funds of the Commodity Cred14 it Corporation or other funds available to the Secretary.’’;

15 and

16 (3) in subsection (j), as redesignated by para17 graph (1), by striking ‘‘subsection (f)’’ and inserting

18 ‘‘subsections (f) and (i)’’.

19 (d) TERMINATION OF MARKETING QUOTAS AND AL20 LOTMENTS.—

21 (1) TERMINATION.—Part VII of subtitle B of

22 title III of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938

23 (7 U.S.C. 1359aa–1359jj) is repealed.

24 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section

25 344(f)(2) of such Act (7 U.S.C. 1344(f)(2)) is
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1 amended by striking ‘‘sugar cane for sugar, sugar

2 beets for sugar,’’.

3 (e) OTHER CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—

4 (1) PRICE SUPPORT FOR NONBASIC AGRICUL5 TURAL COMMODITIES.—The Agricultural Act of

6 1949 is amended—

7 (A) in section 201(a) (7 U.S.C. 1446(a)),

8 by striking ‘‘milk, sugar beets, and sugarcane’’

9 and inserting ‘‘, and milk’’; and

10 (B) in section 301 (7 U.S.C. 1447), by in11 serting ‘‘(other than sugarcane and sugar

12 beets)’’ after ‘‘title II’’.

13 (2) POWERS OF COMMODITY CREDIT CORPORA14 TION.—Section 5(a) of the Commodity Credit Cor15 poration Charter Act (15 U.S.C. 714c(a)) is amend16 ed by inserting ‘‘(except for sugarcane and sugar

17 beets of the 2003 and subsequent crops)’’ after ‘‘ag18 ricultural commodities’’.

19 (3) SECTION 32 ACTIVITIES.—The second sen20 tence of the first paragraph of section 32 of the Act

21 of August 24, 1935 (7 U.S.C. 612c), is amended by

22 inserting ‘‘(other than sugarcane and sugar beets)’’

23 after ‘‘commodity’’ the last place it appears.

24 (f) ASSURANCE OF ADEQUATE SUPPLIES OF

25 SUGAR.—Subsection (a) of section 902 of the Food Secu-
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1 rity Act of 1985 (Public Law 99–198; 7 U.S.C. 1446g

2 note) is amended to read as follows:

3 ‘‘(a) Beginning with the quota year for sugar imports

4 which begins after the 1998/1999 quota year, the Presi5 dent shall use all authorities available to the President as

6 may be necessary to enable the Secretary of Agriculture

7 to ensure that adequate supplies of raw cane sugar are

8 made available to the United States market at prices no

9 greater than the higher of—

10 ‘‘(1) the world sugar price (adjusted to a deliv11 ered basis); or

12 ‘‘(2) the raw cane sugar loan rate in effect

13 under section 156 of the Agricultural Market Tran14 sition Act (7 U.S.C. 7272), plus interest.’’.

Æ