[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 66 (Thursday, May 21, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Page S5269]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        NATIONAL TOBACCO POLICY AND YOUTH SMOKING REDUCTION ACT

  The Senate continued with consideration of the bill.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The distinguished Senator from Minnesota.


                           Amendment No. 2433

  Mr. WELLSTONE. I will speak for a couple of minutes on this 
amendment. I ask unanimous consent after I speak on this amendment that 
I have 2 minutes to speak as in morning business, and following that, 
that Senator Kerrey be allowed to have the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. WELLSTONE. I thank the Chair.
  Mr. President, let me join with my colleagues from Vermont and New 
Hampshire in supporting their amendment. I shall be very, very brief--
uncharacteristically brief. I see the Presiding Officer smiling.
  Minnesota is a State that has played a very central role in this 
debate about tobacco. I think if there is one thing that has come out 
of the litigation, the whole case against tobacco with Minnesota 
leading the way, Attorney General Humphrey and others, it is this: 
Minnesota unearthed a lot of documents, around 36,000 documents, and 
many of the documents have been referred to in the debates on the floor 
of the Senate. The one thing that you see over and over again is a 
pattern of lying. It is just a pattern of outright lying on the part of 
this industry. Mr. President, I don't believe that an industry that has 
walked away from an agreement, which has really willfully targeted our 
children, has really caused a tremendous amount of pain among children 
and their families, has really brought about the addiction of children 
and too many citizens dying an early death, deserves any immunity at 
all.

  We should not give this industry any special deal. We don't in other 
cases. I don't think this industry should get immunity. I fully support 
this amendment. It is as simple as that. I see nothing in what this 
industry has done over many, many years--the way in which this industry 
has conducted itself, the way in which this industry has blatantly lied 
to people in this country, or, for that matter, the way this industry 
has related to what is going on here in the Senate--that would lead me 
to the conclusion that they deserve a special deal. I don't think 
people in the country think they deserve any special deal.
  Therefore, this amendment is extremely important. I hope colleagues 
will support it.

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