[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 114 (Wednesday, September 3, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1639]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              TOBACCO BILL

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. JOHN JOSEPH MOAKLEY

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, September 3, 1997

  Mr. MOAKLEY. Mr. Speaker, today, I am introducing a bill to prevent 
tobacco companies from collecting the increase in tobacco excise taxes 
included in the budget.
  When this provision was inserted in the budget very few of my 
colleagues knew about it. Now it's time to repeal it.
  Mr. Speaker, cigarettes are the leading cause of preventable death in 
the United States.
  And, like many other Americans, I watched as the tobacco companies 
reached an agreement with the attorneys general to try to deal with 
this enormous public health problem by requiring the tobacco companies 
to fund antismoking initiatives.
  But somehow, someone slipped something into the budget bill that lets 
the tobacco companies off the hook and forces American citizens to 
finance the antismoking initiatives instead.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in cosponsoring this 
bill--the tobacco companies should live up to their agreements instead 
of passing them off onto the American people.

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