U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge, D-N.C., calls it nuts.
Tobacco is barred from the program.
We do it for every single other product. To single out one product is unfair. You shouldn't discriminate against any state's products. Etheridge, the only tobacco farmer in Congress, is particularly steamed about the ban because a recently opened Chinese market could boost U.S. tobacco exports by as much as 10 percent, the N.C. Rural Prosperity Task Force estimates. R-N.C. Congress passed the ban in 1993.