[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 53 (Monday, May 4, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4202-S4203]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   COMPREHENSIVE TOBACCO LEGISLATION

  Mr. DORGAN. Madam President, before I begin talking about an 
amendment I intend to offer on the piece of legislation we will 
consider this week dealing with the IRS, let me say that the Congress 
Daily this afternoon indicates the Senate majority leader says ``the 
compromise tobacco bill developed by Commerce Chairman McCain may not 
be the base bill considered by the Senate when it takes up the tobacco 
issue. . .''
  I am quoting:

       When asked whether he plans to bring the McCain bill to the 
     floor, Lott said: ``I am referring to a bill; it could be 
     McCain, a version of McCain, it could be something else.''

  Again, I was quoting.
  I would hope that Senator Lott, the majority leader, would understand 
that when the Senate Commerce Committee marks up a piece of legislation 
and passes it with only one dissenting vote, a piece of legislation 
that is embraced by Republicans and Democrats in the Senate Commerce 
Committee, that that would not be work that is discarded as we move to 
begin consideration of a comprehensive tobacco bill.

[[Page S4203]]

  There is a reason for a committee system in the Congress, and that is 
to work through committees to develop a proposal, and bring that 
proposal to the floor of the Senate. I would be very disappointed if 
the majority leader intends one way or the other to bring a piece of 
legislation to the floor which is vastly different than that which was 
passed out of the Senate Commerce Committee.

  Again, I know there is a tremendous amount of lobbying going on in 
this town and around the country by the tobacco industry to try to 
resist and fight this kind of tobacco legislation. I understand that 
and I understand why they are doing that. Literally hundreds of 
millions--billions of dollars, hundreds of billions of dollars are at 
stake. But we must, it seems to me, in discharging our responsibility, 
pass a comprehensive tobacco bill. A good start in doing that would be 
to take the piece of legislation that we have drafted and marked up in 
the Senate Commerce Committee and bring that to the floor of the U.S. 
Senate.
  In response, I think, to the aggressive initiative around this 
country by the tobacco industry, some are saying, ``Maybe we ought to 
back off. Maybe we ought to not be quite as aggressive.''
  The fact is the origin of the tobacco legislation comes from our 
determination to see that this industry stops targeting America's 
children. And if someone thinks that they have not targeted America's 
children, then I say read the evidence. The Supreme Court has just 
ruled in a manner that requires thousands of pages of evidence to be 
disclosed. That evidence from the tobacco industry itself demonstrates 
that the only source of new smokers has been to addict America's 
children.
  Smoking is legal. Tobacco use is legal, and will remain legal in this 
country. But it is not legal and should not be legal to attempt to 
addict America's children. That is why a comprehensive tobacco bill 
needs to be brought to the floor of the Senate. I urge the majority 
leader in the strongest terms possible to use the process that we have 
started here in the Senate, bring to the floor the piece of legislation 
I and others, with the leadership of Senator McCain, have developed, 
and use that as a starting point on the Senate floor to deal with 
comprehensive tobacco legislation.

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