Inez Pledges to Support Farmers

[wyethwire]

TENENBAUM PRESSES TOBACCO QUOTA BUYOUT WITH PETITION TO WASHINGTON

Joins tobacco leader in touring farm, placing newspaper ad

NOTE: Tenenbaum's ad in today's Florence Morning News can be viewed at: http://www.inez2004.com/tobaccoad

FLORENCE, S.C. -- Visiting a tobacco farm here, U.S. Senate candidate Inez Tenenbaum pressed the need for Washington to pass a tobacco quota buyout, by kicking off a petition drive to Congress and the Administration and placing a newspaper ad to draw attention to the issue. Tenenbaum has made a tobacco quota buyout one of the central components of her "South Carolina Works" jobs plan.

"The quota system that was designed as a lifeline for tobacco growers has become a noose around their necks," Tenenbaum told a group of local growers. "And while folks in the Pee Dee struggle, Washington refuses to untie the knot."

Tenenbaum joined Johnny Shelley, President of the South Carolina Tobacco Growers Association, in placing the ad in this morning's edition of the Florence Morning News pressing the issue. The ad urges South Carolinians to sign a petition on Tenenbaum's website, www.inez2004.com.

"Congress and the Administration are dragging their feet in passing a tobacco quota buyout," the ad reads. "Sign our petition to tell Washington we need a buyout of $8/pound for quota owners and $4/pound for growers. A buyout would pump more than $1 billion into South Carolina's economy. And it would not cost taxpayers a dime. So what's the holdup?"

The current tobacco quota system was created to give growers price stability during the Great Depression. Quotas set the number of pounds of tobacco that farmers were allowed to grow. But today, with
a rise in cheap imports, a declining market for tobacco products, and
the rising costs of quota allotments, that same system threatens to put many farmers out of business.

Tenenbaum said today that while farmers have pleaded for help in modernizing this system, Washington has turned a deaf ear. Buyout proposals remain stalled in Congress and tied up in partisan bickering.

"The aim of this petition is simple: to tell Washington to get its head out of the sand, and start helping our tobacco growers get their feet on the ground, by passing a quota buyout," Tenenbaum said.

By one estimate, a buyout would pump one billion dollars into South Carolina's economy over the next seven years.

"A tobacco quota buyout isn't a handout," Tenenbaum said. "It's a
hand up, not just to our farmers but to the workers they employ and the communities where they live."

Tenenbaum said that money will immediately help create jobs here in South Carolina, by allowing farmers to transition out of tobacco and hire new workers to grow new crops. It will also help revive the many towns throughout South Carolina whose economies revolve around tobacco.

Tenenbaum concluded by noting that a quota buyout would not cost American taxpayers a dime. Instead, it will be funded entirely by levies on the tobacco manufacturers. And she noted that tobacco manufacturers like Philip Morris support the buyout.