To the Editor:

Congressman Paul Tonko (D-NY-20) is in the pocket of the nation’s beet and cane sugar cartels! Tonko continually votes to maintain the United States Sugar Program. Why? It is really quite simple, Congressman Tonko received well over $30,000 in political donations from the sugar cartels since coming to Washington in 2009.

Thanks to Rep. Tonko 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. Tonko’s eight years in office, he repeatedly voted against sugar reform, costing each New York family an additional $464 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 Tonko to step up and end this costly government giveaway to the cartels!

The Independent Bakers’ Association is an international trade association that fights to protect the interests of mostly family-owned wholesale bakers and allied trades. For more information about IBA and sugar program corruption, visit IBAbaker.com.

Nicholas A. Pyle, president

Independent Bakers’ Association

Editor’s note: See related story.