[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 30 (Wednesday, March 18, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2235-S2236]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
TOBACCO LEGISLATION
Mr. CONRAD. I thank the Chair. Madam President, I especially thank
her for locating me properly in North Dakota. We are very sensitive
about that up our way, as you can imagine. I also thank the leader for
accommodating me in this way.
Moments ago, we heard the Senator from Iowa speak on the budget and
the fact that we are considering the budget in the Budget Committee. I
wanted to make just a few observations on what is occurring there and
what has led us to this point.
In 1993, the Democrats passed an economic plan that was a 5-year
plan. That plan cut spending and it also raised income taxes on the
wealthiest 1.5 percent of the people in this country. Many criticized
us for that plan at the time, doubting that it would reduce the deficit
as we believed, doubting that it would strengthen the economy as we
believed, and doubting that it would reduce unemployment and inflation
as we believed. But now we are able to look back and see the record and
the record is clear. The 1993 economic plan has worked and worked
remarkably well. It worked so well that this year we are actually
contemplating a balanced budget on a unified basis. That will be the
first time in 30 years that the United States has had a balanced budget
on a unified basis. When I use those words ``on a unified basis,'' that
simply means that we are looking at all of the spending and all of the
revenue of the Federal Government. All of them are put together. They
are accumulated in order to determine balance.
As a result of that economic policy and economic plan that was put in
place, we have enjoyed a remarkable economic resurgence in this
country. We have very strong economic growth, the lowest unemployment
in 24 years, the lowest inflation in 30 years. The size of the
Government in relationship to the size of our entire economy has been
coming down steadily. We have the smallest size of Government in this
country in 30 years. But the job is not yet done, because it is also
true that we continue to use Social Security trust fund surpluses in
order to achieve balance. So the next great challenge is to stop using
the Social Security trust fund surpluses. That is why the President has
called on us to save Social Security first, before we use any of those
surpluses for any other purpose.
The Democrats subscribe to that position. I am pleased to report in
the budget that has been put before us by the chairman of the Budget
Committee, he, too, has subscribed to the notion of saving Social
Security first and not using the surpluses for any other purpose until
we resolve the long-term solvency of the Social Security system. But we
do have a problem with the budget resolution laid down by the chairman
today. The problem that we have is that many of us believe that it
endangers comprehensive tobacco legislation, comprehensive national
tobacco policy. The reason for that is in the chairman's mark he has
provided that if we do get revenues from tobacco, that they can only be
used for the Medicare system.
Madam President, I would be the first to acknowledge the great
importance of the Medicare system. But I do not believe that the
chairman's mark solves the Medicare problem. I do not think he makes
any representation that it does.
What is required to save Medicare for the long term is Medicare
reform. That is why we have a bipartisan commission that worked this
year to prepare us an outline as to how we strengthen Medicare for the
long term.
But I think it is also fair to say that Medicare is not a national
tobacco policy, and we need a national tobacco policy. If we are going
to have comprehensive legislation, if we are going to have a resolution
of the tobacco controversy, the experts have told us we need a
comprehensive plan, one that has as its highest priority protecting the
public health, one that has as its highest priority the reduction of
teen smoking, because we all know that 90 percent of smokers start
before they are 19, fully half start before age 14.
So if we are really going to do something to protect the public
health, we need to act to prevent people from taking up the habit. That
means if we get tobacco revenues, we should use part of that money for
smoking cessation programs, smoking prevention programs, countertobacco
advertising programs, health research, and, yes, Medicare, and we
Democrats also believe, yes, Social Security.
We believe some of the money should be saved for strengthening both
Medicare and Social Security, but we don't
[[Page S2236]]
believe that it is appropriate to limit the use of the funds for only
one purpose--strengthening Medicare. We don't believe that is
appropriate. We believe if we are going to have a national tobacco
policy, that some of the funds, a relatively modest amount of the
total, be reserved for smoking cessation, smoking prevention,
countertobacco advertising, health research, and other programs that
have been advocated by the experts that have come before us.
The irony is, every comprehensive bill that is before this body uses
the funds not just for Medicare but for these other purposes as well.
The bill presented by Senator McCain, the chairman of the Commerce
Committee, the bill presented by Senator Lugar, the chairman of the
Agriculture Committee, the bill put before us by Senator Hatch, the
chairman of the Judiciary Committee--all Republicans, all committee
chairmen--they have not said in their comprehensive bills we just use
the money for Medicare. No; they have said, to have a comprehensive
national tobacco policy, we have to do more than that; we have to have
a tobacco control program that really helps us stop the 400,000 deaths
that occur every year in this country because of the use of tobacco
products.
Madam President, we urge our colleagues to listen to Dr. Koop, who
wrote to us today that the approach of the chairman of the Senate
Budget Committee is inadequate--in fact, he used the words ``woefully
inadequate''--to counter the scourge of tobacco. We should listen to
the American Cancer Society that wrote to the committee today and said
just using the money for Medicare is not adequate. We should listen to
the American Lung Association that said in a letter to the committee
today, just using the money for Medicare is not going to help us solve
the challenge of addiction, disease, and death brought to this country
by the use of tobacco products.
Madam President, hopefully, before this matter is resolved out here
on the Senate floor, we will be able to get together on a comprehensive
plan. I hope we are able to do that. I dedicate myself to that purpose,
and I hope other Senators will as well.
I thank the Chair and yield the floor.
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