Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) met with members of the American Bakers Association at the East Balt baking facility in Chicago this month to discuss his efforts to reform the current U.S. sugar program.

“I am eager to work with the baking industry to address federal price supports and protection for sugar producers that continue to drive up costs for American consumers and send U.S. jobs abroad,” said Kirk in a press release. “Such practice is outdated and ripe for reform.”

Since Kirk joined Congress in 2000, he has sponsored numerous bills aimed at eliminating the sugar program and has worked with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to increase sugar imports, which would help mediate high sugar prices and create jobs. Now in the Senate, he has co-sponsored S.25, the Stop Unfair Giveaways and Restrictions Act of 2011, a bill that seeks to increase the flow of sugar into the U.S. to satisfy demand.