[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 45 (Wednesday, April 22, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H2127]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     TOBACCO SETTLEMENT IS A FARCE

  (Mr. COOKSEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. COOKSEY. Mr. Speaker, many years ago Charles Kuralt was ``On the 
Road'' and he was interviewing a farmer from Georgia and he asked that 
farmer, he said, ``What are the biggest problems in this area today?'' 
And that farmer said, ``The two biggest problems are kudzu and Baptist 
preachers.''
  Well, Mr. Speaker, I beg to differ with that farmer. The two biggest 
problems in this country today are trial lawyers and tobacco. They are 
both bad. They are bad for this country. They are bad for the people's 
health and they are the ones that are trying to perpetrate this 
problem, this tobacco settlement, on this country today.
  I am a physician. I spent my career taking care of people with health 
problems, and I promise, tobacco is bad. We have been publicizing it 
for years. It has been on the tobacco packages since 1962. Mr. Speaker, 
anybody that smokes cigarettes is crazy.
  But this tobacco settlement is a farce that is strictly to transfer 
money to the trial lawyers and to create a lot of unfounded hope for 
money to support programs that will never be done.

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