Hudson Co-Authors Letter to Protect the Tobacco Transition Payment Program

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 22, 2013

Hudson Co-Authors Letter to Protect the Tobacco Transition Payment Program

WASHINGTON-U.S. Representative Richard Hudson (NC-08) sent a letter to Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, and Office of Management and Budget Director, Sylvia Burwell, regarding protection of the Tobacco Transition Payment Program (TTPP) from the proposed FY2014 sequester cuts.

“Tobacco is an integral part of North Carolina’s agriculture and economy, and I am proud to join a bipartisan group of my colleagues urging Secretary Vilsack and Director Burwell to take necessary steps to ensure that this user-fee funded program is not confiscated under the guise of FY2014 sequestration cuts,” said Rep. Hudson.

“The Tobacco Transition Payment Program came at a pivotal time when our growers needed certainty most. A few years ago, tobacco faced many challenges including diminishing demand, escalating production costs, and competition from cheaper foreign-grown tobacco, and the TTPP was a 10-year commitment of private money to our farmers and their families to help them reduce their dependence on tobacco and transition to the free market.”

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