Latest Answers

Latest Answers http://askyourlawmaker.org/answers/latest/%2A/98/%2A/%2A a view of answers sorted by date en Right now in the United States we pay about twice what the world going rate is on sugar, and that causes cookies and candies and all kind of other products to be more expensive at the supermarket, because of the sugar policy in America. And there are a fairly small number of very wealthy falimies in Florida that take advantage of this to the detriment of the rest of the country. So in my view we ought to let the market determine what the price of sugar ought to be and we shouldn’t have any sort of subsidy or any sort of tariffs on sugar. We ought to let the market determine the price of sugar.” Reporter Matt Laslo: “Are these just arcane laws, why are they still in place?” Chabot: “We have a lot of subsidies unfortunately on all kinds of products from peanuts and cotton to sugar and others as well. And each one of them sorta scratches the back of the other, and even though on an individual basis they would say the others aren’t very good, they think theirs is good and they all work together to keep all these subsidies on all these crops, so we pay higher prices at the super market because we have subsidies and we have tariffs on so many different products in this country. We ought to do away with them all and let the markets determine. http://askyourlawmaker.org/answers/right-now-united-states-we-pay-about-twice-what-world-going-rate-sugar%2C-and-causes-cookies-a Thu, 17 Apr 2008 10:07:49 -0500 Matt Laslo 1223 at http://askyourlawmaker.org Nutrition education we already do within health classes. When my kids were in kindergarten or 1st Grade, and how many grains and how many dairies, so nutrition education, yes. One of the other questions to be asked is, is it the federal government’s role to tell schools what they should be doing within the choices that are available within a school. We need to keep in mind that within the past 40 some-odd years, we’ve been doing that within the school lunch program. We have set the standards within school lunches and we say there are standards that need to be met. What we haven’t really done is updated those standards. It’s not just what is available within the school lunch program. It’s also what is available for sale through other programs. http://askyourlawmaker.org/answers/nutrition-education-we-already-do-within-health-classes.-when-my-kids-were-kindergarten-or-1 Wed, 19 Mar 2008 15:09:27 -0500 1180 at http://askyourlawmaker.org Well first of all, it’s not up the federal government to mandate what schools teach. I would never want to intrude on the local jurisdiction of schools to decide who they hire, who the fire, what books use. That’s not the role of the federal government. But I do think the role of the federal government is, as long as we’re providing school lunches and school breakfasts and food in schools, that we ought to be able to say what foods would be allowed in those schools. If you’re gonna partake in the school lunch or school breakfast program, then you oughta be able to set guidelines for all of the foods in those schools. And that’s what I’m trying get accomplished. http://askyourlawmaker.org/answers/well-first-all%2C-it%E2%80%99s-not-federal-government-mandate-what-schools-teach.-i-would-never-want-i Wed, 19 Mar 2008 15:07:38 -0500 1178 at http://askyourlawmaker.org Well, I think that we do need to reduce the influence of lobbyist on the electoral process and on the hill, in terms of increasing transparency, prohibiting lobbyist from winning and dining members of Congress, reducing travel. Common Cause, Public Interest, other groups, other public watch dog groups, hailed it as a landmark piece of legislation. It dramatically limits the influence of lobbyist in terms of their winning and dining of legislators, no traveling with lobbyist. It sets up some very important firewalls in the process. I do believe that we need to go farther with respect to campaign finance reform. And I believe we should have a system where there is much more of a public funding component to reduce the influence of money generally. http://askyourlawmaker.org/answers/well%2C-i-think-we-do-need-reduce-influence-lobbyist-electoral-process-and-hill%2C-terms-increas Wed, 20 Feb 2008 14:57:00 -0600 1077 at http://askyourlawmaker.org Well, corn based ethanol is not our energy future. It’s already having an effect in this country and around the world. In terms of distorting price signals and supply chains. We need to have a requirement that biofuels are sustainable, positive for the economy and not mere substitutions and corn based as I say, is one that doesn’t meet those tests. We’re working to try to reform the farm bill to provide appropriate tax incentives for sustainable renewable energy and research for the biofuels that make sense.” http://askyourlawmaker.org/answers/well%2C-corn-based-ethanol-not-our-energy-future.-it%E2%80%99s-already-having-effect-country-and-aroun Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:28:31 -0600 1005 at http://askyourlawmaker.org Ethanol may play a role in fuel alternatives, but we simply can not grow our way out of this energy crisis. We are going to have to look at all kinds of fuel alternatives. And the problem with a corn based fuel supply is that it is used not only for fuel but is used for food around the world. It also helps feed our livestock and its used for glue. It is used for so many different things that I think it is not going to be one of the energy fuels of the future. http://askyourlawmaker.org/answers/ethanol-may-play-role-fuel-alternatives%2C-we-simply-can-not-grow-our-way-out-energy-crisis.-w Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:16:10 -0600 1003 at http://askyourlawmaker.org “I came from the kitchen to the Congress. I came as a Mom wanting to make sure that public policy did whatever it could do that parents couldn’t do to protect its children and the trust that parents across the country would like to have in the federal government is completely unjustified when we see how lax the Consumer Product Safety Commission has been with its acting chairperson saying we don’t need any more resources and we don’t need any more authority.” http://askyourlawmaker.org/answers/%E2%80%9Ci-came-kitchen-congress.-i-came-mom-wanting-make-sure-public-policy-did-whatever-it-could-d Thu, 06 Dec 2007 15:38:03 -0600 mhowe 879 at http://askyourlawmaker.org