[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 40 (Wednesday, April 1, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H2035]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                REACHING A BALANCED AGREEMENT ON TOBACCO

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Whitfield) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. WHITFIELD. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the gentleman from 
Maryland (Mr. Hoyer) for those kind words of tribute to the Kentucky 
basketball coach, Tubby Smith. All of us from Kentucky are certainly 
quite proud of his accomplishments in his first year as the head coach 
of the University of Kentucky, and he certainly demonstrated the type 
of leadership and character that are so important to young men and 
women at the University of Kentucky. It makes us even more proud to 
know that he is from the State of Maryland.
  I want to thank the gentleman for those kind remarks for our 
basketball coach at the University of Kentucky.
  I also would like to point out that this afternoon I had the 
opportunity to visit with six high school students who came to my 
office to talk about some issues facing young men and women today. As 
we had our discussion, they pointed out that some of their greatest 
concerns on issues facing young people today were: One, teenage 
pregnancy; and two, the use of illegal drugs.
  I found that quite informative, because over the last 6 or 7 months, 
our President of the United States, our Vice President, Mr. David 
Kessler and others have placed great emphasis and have drawn attention 
to the fact that tobacco and the use of tobacco products by young 
people may be one of the most serious issues facing young people. Yet, 
in my discussions with these young people today from Kentucky and other 
young people throughout my district, none of them really talk about the 
use of tobacco products as one of the major problems facing young 
people today.
  As I listen to the debate on this tobacco issue and the universal 
tobacco settlement over on the Senate side, and as I have read the 
universal settlement agreement between the tobacco companies and the 
State Attorneys General, it has really caused me to do a lot of 
thinking about this issue. All of us recognize the importance of doing 
everything possible to prevent young people from using tobacco 
products, and that is why 50 States already prohibit the sale of 
tobacco products to young people throughout this country.
  Yet in spite of that, the real issue in this universal tobacco 
settlement seems now to me to come down to be a matter of money. In the 
settlement agreement, the tobacco companies agreed that they would pay 
$368 billion every 25 years forever to reach this settlement, and, in 
exchange, they agreed that any individual would be able to bring a 
lawsuit against the tobacco companies to recover any damages suffered 
by using tobacco products; that those individuals would have that right 
to bring these lawsuits forever. The only immunity that the tobacco 
companies asked for in exchange for $368 billion every 25 years forever 
was to simply settle the class lawsuits and the lawsuits filed by the 
States in these innovative legal theories, that were filed by the 
States to reimburse the States for Medicaid costs that the States 
incurred by individuals who voluntarily used tobacco products.
  But as I look into this more and more, it seems that this issue is 
much broader than simply teenage smoking, because there are hundreds of 
thousands of individuals and their children who depend upon the tobacco 
product for their livelihood, for the education of their children, to 
take care of their families. As a matter of fact, there are 140,000 
farm families in the United States alone that grow this product.
  This discussion talks only about teenage smoking, and yet we are not 
giving any consideration to the impact, the economic impact, that this 
settlement can have on these hundreds of thousands of families who 
depend upon this product for their livelihood.
  As I listen to the Senate debate, I am quite discouraged that more 
and more it seems to be a matter of wanting to punish an industry, to 
provide punitive damages against an industry that has grown and 
processed a legal crop, a crop that has been legal in America since 
Jamestown; a crop that, if you walk around the Capitol of the United 
States, you will see tobacco leaves at strategic points in this 
Capitol, a crop that has provided valuable economic interests to our 
Nation.
  I would simply say as we continue our debate on the tobacco 
settlement, let us not forget the economic impact that this is going to 
have on farmers, workers, and many other people. I think we have a 
unique opportunity to reach a balanced agreement.

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