The program has enriched domestic sugar growers at the expense of ordinary consumers and, in some cases, the environment.

But most other sugar growers have evicted the families and torn down the structures.

That allowed the bill to pass and the sugar growers to escape with only a few scratches.

The sugar growers' success in the two committees is a classic story of Washington power politics.

Most elected officials in Florida have sided with the sugar growers on both the price support and the assessment issue.

But the foreign sugar growers and the domestic refiners welcomed the measure.

The sugar growers agreed to pay for water treatment programs, not quite half the total.

America's sugar growers may not be competitive in the global marketplace, but they know how to play in Washington.

Mexican sugar growers had to cut production by 7 percent and increase sales to domestic markets at reduced prices.

The bill also leaves huge subsidies to sugar growers and peanut farms in place.