[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 114 (Wednesday, September 3, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H6758-H6760]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
APPOINTMENT OF CONFEREES ON H.R. 2160, AGRICULTURE, RURAL DEVELOPMENT,
FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT,
1998
Mr. SKEEN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to take from the
Speaker's table the bill (H.R. 2160) making appropriations for
Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and
Related Agencies programs for the fiscal year ending September 30,
1998, and for other purposes, with Senate amendments thereto, disagree
to the Senate amendments, and agree to the conference asked by the
Senate.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from New Mexico [Mr. Skeen]?
There was no objection.
Motion to Instruct Offered By Ms. Kaptur
Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I offer a motion to instruct.
The Clerk read as follows:
Ms. Kaptur moves that the managers on the part of the House
at the conference on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses
on the bill H.R. 2160, be instructed to recede to the Senate
regarding funding levels provided under the Food and Drug
Administration for the program to prevent the use of tobacco
products by minors.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from
Ohio [Ms. Kaptur], and the gentleman from New Mexico [Mr. Skeen] will
each be recognized for 30 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Ohio [Ms. Kaptur].
Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
(Ms. KAPTUR asked and was given permission to revise and extend her
remarks.)
Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, the motion I offer today instructs the
conferees on the fiscal year 1998 Agriculture Appropriations Act to
agree to the higher funding levels provided by the Senate for the Food
and Drug Administration's Youth Tobacco Initiative.
Just this morning, Mr. Speaker, the Senate agreed to provide $34
million, which was the full budget request, for the Food and Drug
Administration Program to assist our States in enforcement and outreach
efforts related to rules to prevent children, our children, from
purchasing tobacco as minors.
The House bill included $24 million for this important program, and
originally the Senate had only provided $4.9 million. But this morning,
in an act of great wisdom, the Senate, on an amendment that was voiced
after substantial approval was given and a motion to table defeated,
voted in the Senate to raise the level to $34 million, which was the
full budget request.
Mr. Speaker, our bill here in the House included $24 million for this
important program. Our motion would simply instruct our House conferees
to agree to the funding levels for the Food and Drug Administration
provided by the Senate, therefore, fully funding this important
initiative to protect our Nation's children.
Mr. Speaker, I do not need to point out, I suppose, that nearly 90
percent of adult smokers in our country began doing so before the age
of 18. In fact, at current rates, more than 5 million children under
age 18 who are alive today will be killed by smoking-related diseases.
So we are talking about the lives of millions of our children.
We know that every year more than $1 billion in tobacco products are
illegally sold to minors. I underline ``illegally'' sold to minors in
this country. And as much as $50 billion is spent every year in our
country on smoking-related medical care.
Providing $34 million, $10 million more than in the House agreement
but meeting the full budget request, will help our States set up
enforcement programs and educate retailers and the public on the new
Food and Drug Administration youth tobacco rules. It seems to me this
is the least we can do to protect our country's future and our
children.
I urge my colleagues to support this motion, and I reserve the
balance of my time.
Mr. SKEEN. Mr. Speaker, with all due respect to the gentlewoman from
Ohio [Ms. Kaptur], I concur that this is a very important issue for all
of us. I share the gentlewoman's concern, but we have many differences
in these two bills, and I strongly believe that the House should not,
should not be instructing its conferees to accept a Senate position on
any issue before the conference has even begun.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
[[Page H6759]]
Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from
Connecticut [Ms. DeLauro], a distinguished member of the Committee on
Appropriations.
Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the motion to
instruct conferees to fully fund the FDA's program to crack down on
illegal tobacco sales to minors. I appreciate the assistance of
Chairman Skeen and other members of the subcommittee in providing $24
million for this important initiative in the House bill. But I hope
that in conference that we can join the Senate and provide the entire
$34 million needed to stop our youngsters from taking up smoking and
becoming addicted.
Facts of underage tobacco use are undisputed. Every single day 3,000
young people under the age of 18 who cannot even buy tobacco legally,
become regular smokers. Selling tobacco to minors is illegal in all 50
States, but studies show that children can buy tobacco 67 percent of
the time. What does this teach our children? It teaches them to smoke
and it also teaches them that there are no penalties for breaking the
law.
The FDA plan will help retailers understand and comply with the law.
It enables strict enforcement by checking that stores require people
who look younger than age 27 show an ID card before they buy
cigarettes. It is a perfectly legitimate practice with regard to the
sale of alcohol. It is an enforcement mechanism, it is an outreach
mechanism, and it does not set up any, and I repeat, it does not set up
any new government bureaucracy.
{time} 1745
Yesterday's Wall Street Journal reported that 83 percent of the
Members of the other body who took tobacco money last year voted
against fully funding this provision. I would like to think that
Members of this body today will be voting on this motion based on what
is best for America's children and not on what is best for their
campaign coffers.
Frankly, the tobacco industry has no reason to oppose this motion
because this money all goes toward endorsing current law. This is no
new law that is being talked about. But perhaps because 90 percent of
all smokers start the habit by age 18, the tobacco companies are
concerned that cracking down on youth smoking will hurt their
businesses.
I would be ashamed if any Member of this body voted against this
resolution as payback for a campaign contribution. This motion is about
saving lives. Investing a small amount in prevention today is going to
yield enormous savings down the road, not only in dollars for reduced
medical costs but in the lives of our young people who can be saved.
I urge my colleagues to support the motion to instruct.
Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I just wanted to mention that for Members who are listening on the
floor or maybe listening to these remarks over their televisions in
their offices, if you look at the budget issue involved here, and I
wanted to place this on the record because it is important, voting for
this motion to instruct is a very responsible vote.
Both the House and the Senate have decided within their respective
appropriations committees for different marks, different funding levels
for agriculture functions. In the Senate, the Agriculture Subcommittee
allocations were much higher than in the House. In fact, they have $30
million more in budget authority and over $200 million more in outlays.
As we go to conference, we have to conference on that as well.
So I want to assure my colleagues that the flexibility within the
budget exists and we are not asking for anything unreasonable in this
motion to instruct. We are again asking our House colleagues to agree
with what the Senate has done and to instruct our conferees to agree to
the $34 million youth tobacco prevention initiative.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas [Ms.
Jackson-Lee].
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I thank the ranking member for
her leadership and advocacy of this issue. I recognize the sensitivity
of the chairman as well, but would respectfully disagree. I would
respectfully disagree with the approach. It is vital and imperative
that this motion to instruct conferees is passed by this body.
There is a whole lot of barking going around about what we intend to
do about preventing children from engaging in the beginning of tobacco
use, or smoking, but there is not a lot of bite. This is a simple
instruction that simply provides the bite that is needed to ensure that
we provide the enforcement and the education to our retailers around
this Nation.
One of the failings that brought about this intense increase in
cigarette smoking by our young people is that in the highways and
byways and the rural communities and urban centers, there has been no
incentive on the part of our retailers to stop that young person who
comes in, approaches that cigarette, or to keep them from going to the
cigarette machine; and what we have now is a $50 billion smoking-
related medical care cost. This does not make sense.
All we are asking for our House Members to do is to be in sync with
the Senate so that there is not a dilemma in conference, there is not
confusion in conference, there is not disagreement in conference, that
we would join in and support the $37 billion that the Senate has
approved so we can put some action behind our words, put your money
where your mouth is and that is not in your pocket. That is to ensure
that there is enforcement and education.
Every time I go into my schools, whether we are talking about
prevention of HIV, whether we are talking about understanding of one's
ability to know how to interact and to be able to use one's sexual
intensity properly, it is all about educating our young people. It is
all about being forthright. It makes no sense whatsoever that we would
not want to support this motion to instruct conferees to put some bite
in our bark, to ensure that the 3,000 young people under the age of 18
who get cigarettes every day are educated properly and these laws are
enforced.
We need to provide the bite for the Food and Drug Administration.
This is a sensible, intelligent, forthright motion to instruct
conferees.
I would be incensed, and I think the American people would not
understand why the House would be backtracking from a so-called
commitment to ensure that the Food and Drug Administration has all of
the tools that it should have to make sure that we see this siege upon
our young people in America prevented and we educate them toward good
health and to stop the smoking that has infiltrated their young lives
and caused devastating health impact in their late lives.
Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I urge a ``yes'' vote on the motion to instruct conferees so that we
can go to the conference with a strong position from both the House and
the Senate and really do something for the young people of this country
and help prevent additional addiction which will cost millions of lives
in the future and billions of dollars. Let us do what is right for our
children and give them a helping hand.
I urge a ``yes'' vote on the motion to instruct conferees.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. SKEEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Let me summarize this issue for my colleagues, if I might. Currently
the House has $24.3 million for new tobacco regulations. In an action
today, the Senate provided $34 million for the same purpose. I am not,
I repeat, I am not opposed to providing funds for regulating tobacco,
but there has been no resolution of the differences in the allocations
of the House and the Senate. The Senate allocation is $200 million more
than the House. Until that is resolved, I do not believe that we should
be issuing instructions to conferees to go to numbers higher than the
House allocation can support.
I urge the defeat of the motion to instruct.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Snowbarger). Without objection, the
previous question is ordered on the motion to instruct.
There was no objection.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion to instruct
[[Page H6760]]
offered by the gentlewoman from Ohio [Ms. Kaptur].
The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that
the noes appeared to have it.
Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a
quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not
present.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Evidently a quorum is not present.
The Sergeant at Arms will notify absent Members.
The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 299,
nays 125, not voting 9, as follows:
[Roll No. 353]
YEAS--299
Abercrombie
Ackerman
Allen
Andrews
Bachus
Baldacci
Barcia
Barrett (NE)
Barrett (WI)
Barton
Bass
Becerra
Bentsen
Bereuter
Berman
Berry
Bilirakis
Bishop
Blagojevich
Blumenauer
Boehlert
Bonior
Borski
Boswell
Brown (CA)
Brown (FL)
Brown (OH)
Bryant
Calvert
Camp
Campbell
Canady
Cannon
Capps
Cardin
Carson
Castle
Chabot
Christensen
Clayton
Clement
Clyburn
Condit
Conyers
Cook
Costello
Coyne
Cramer
Crapo
Cummings
Danner
Davis (FL)
Davis (IL)
Davis (VA)
DeFazio
DeGette
Delahunt
DeLauro
Dellums
Deutsch
Diaz-Balart
Dicks
Dingell
Doggett
Dooley
Doyle
Duncan
Edwards
Ehlers
Ehrlich
Emerson
Engel
English
Ensign
Eshoo
Evans
Ewing
Farr
Fattah
Fawell
Fazio
Filner
Flake
Foglietta
Foley
Forbes
Ford
Fowler
Fox
Frank (MA)
Franks (NJ)
Frelinghuysen
Frost
Furse
Ganske
Gejdenson
Gephardt
Gibbons
Gilchrest
Gilman
Goodling
Gordon
Goss
Green
Greenwood
Gutierrez
Gutknecht
Hall (TX)
Hamilton
Hansen
Harman
Hastert
Hastings (FL)
Hayworth
Hill
Hilliard
Hinchey
Hinojosa
Hobson
Hoekstra
Holden
Hooley
Horn
Houghton
Hoyer
Hulshof
Hutchinson
Istook
Jackson (IL)
Jackson-Lee (TX)
Jefferson
John
Johnson (CT)
Johnson (WI)
Johnson, E. B.
Kanjorski
Kaptur
Kasich
Kelly
Kennedy (MA)
Kennedy (RI)
Kennelly
Kildee
Kilpatrick
Kind (WI)
King (NY)
Kleczka
Klink
Klug
Kolbe
Kucinich
LaFalce
LaHood
Lampson
LaTourette
Lazio
Leach
Levin
Lewis (GA)
Linder
Lipinski
LoBiondo
Lofgren
Lowey
Luther
Maloney (CT)
Maloney (NY)
Manton
Manzullo
Markey
Martinez
Mascara
Matsui
McCarthy (MO)
McCarthy (NY)
McDade
McDermott
McGovern
McHale
McHugh
McKinney
McNulty
Meehan
Meek
Menendez
Metcalf
Millender-McDonald
Miller (CA)
Miller (FL)
Minge
Mink
Moakley
Mollohan
Moran (KS)
Moran (VA)
Morella
Murtha
Nadler
Neal
Neumann
Ney
Nussle
Oberstar
Obey
Olver
Ortiz
Owens
Oxley
Pallone
Pappas
Pascrell
Pastor
Payne
Pelosi
Peterson (MN)
Peterson (PA)
Petri
Pickett
Pomeroy
Porter
Portman
Poshard
Pryce (OH)
Quinn
Rahall
Ramstad
Rangel
Regula
Reyes
Riggs
Rivers
Rodriguez
Roemer
Ros-Lehtinen
Rothman
Roukema
Roybal-Allard
Royce
Sabo
Salmon
Sanchez
Sanders
Sandlin
Sawyer
Saxton
Schumer
Scott
Sensenbrenner
Serrano
Shaw
Shays
Sherman
Shimkus
Sisisky
Skaggs
Skelton
Slaughter
Smith (MI)
Smith (NJ)
Smith (TX)
Smith, Adam
Snyder
Spratt
Stabenow
Stark
Stenholm
Stokes
Strickland
Stupak
Sununu
Talent
Tanner
Tauscher
Tauzin
Taylor (MS)
Thompson
Thune
Thurman
Tiahrt
Tierney
Torres
Traficant
Turner
Upton
Velazquez
Vento
Visclosky
Wamp
Waters
Watt (NC)
Waxman
Weldon (PA)
Wexler
Weygand
Wise
Woolsey
Wynn
Yates
Young (FL)
NAYS--125
Aderholt
Archer
Armey
Baesler
Baker
Ballenger
Barr
Bartlett
Bateman
Bilbray
Bliley
Blunt
Boehner
Bonilla
Bono
Boucher
Boyd
Brady
Bunning
Burr
Burton
Buyer
Callahan
Chambliss
Chenoweth
Coble
Coburn
Collins
Combest
Cooksey
Cox
Crane
Cubin
Cunningham
Deal
DeLay
Dickey
Doolittle
Dreier
Dunn
Etheridge
Everett
Gallegly
Gekas
Gillmor
Goode
Goodlatte
Graham
Granger
Hastings (WA)
Hefley
Hefner
Herger
Hilleary
Hostettler
Hunter
Hyde
Inglis
Jenkins
Johnson, Sam
Jones
Kim
Kingston
Knollenberg
Largent
Latham
Lewis (CA)
Lewis (KY)
Livingston
Lucas
McCrery
McInnis
McIntosh
McIntyre
McKeon
Mica
Myrick
Nethercutt
Northup
Norwood
Packard
Parker
Paul
Paxon
Pease
Pickering
Pitts
Pombo
Price (NC)
Radanovich
Redmond
Riley
Rogan
Rogers
Rohrabacher
Ryun
Sanford
Scarborough
Schaefer, Dan
Schaffer, Bob
Sessions
Shadegg
Shuster
Skeen
Smith (OR)
Smith, Linda
Snowbarger
Solomon
Souder
Spence
Stearns
Stump
Taylor (NC)
Thomas
Thornberry
Walsh
Watkins
Watts (OK)
Weldon (FL)
Weller
White
Whitfield
Wicker
Wolf
Young (AK)
NOT VOTING--9
Clay
Dixon
Gonzalez
Hall (OH)
Lantos
McCollum
Rush
Schiff
Towns
{time} 1813
Mr. PAXON changed his vote from ``yea'' to ``nay.''
Messrs. Porter, Calvert, Tiahrt, Bass, Bilirakis, Ewing, Hutchinson,
Metcalf, Wamp, Talent, Mrs. Emerson, and Messrs. Shimkus, Barrett of
Nebraska, LaHood and Hulshof changed their vote from ``nay'' to
``yea.''
So the motion to instruct was agreed to.
The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
{time} 1815
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Snowbarger). Without objection, the
Chair appoints the following conferees: Messrs. Skeen, Walsh, Dickey,
Kingston, Nethercutt, Bonilla, Latham, Livingston, Ms. Kaptur, Mr.
Fazio of California, Mr. Serrano, Ms. DeLauro, and Mr. Obey.
There was no objection.
____________________