[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 74 (Wednesday, June 10, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6001-S6003]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        NATIONAL TOBACCO POLICY AND YOUTH SMOKING REDUCTION ACT

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will now 
resume consideration of S. 1415, which the clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (S. 1415) to reform and restructure the processes by 
     which tobacco products are manufactured, marketed, and 
     distributed, to prevent the use of tobacco products by 
     minors, to redress the adverse health effects of tobacco use, 
     and for other purposes.

  The Senate resumed consideration of the bill.
  Pending:
       Gregg/Leahy amendment No. 2433 (to amendment No. 2420), to 
     modify the provisions relating to civil liability for tobacco 
     manufacturers.
       Gregg/Leahy amendment No. 2434 (to amendment No. 2433), in 
     the nature of a substitute.
       Gramm motion to recommit the bill to the Committee on 
     Finance with instructions to report back forthwith, with 
     amendment No. 2436, to modify the provisions relating to 
     civil liability for tobacco manufacturers, and to eliminate 
     the marriage penalty reflected in the standard deduction and 
     to ensure the earned income credit takes into account the 
     elimination of such penalty.
       Daschle (for Durbin) amendment No. 2437 (to amendment No. 
     2436), relating to reductions in underage tobacco usage.


                             Cloture Motion

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the cloture motion.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

                             Cloture Motion

       We, the undersigned Senators, in accordance with the 
     provisions of Rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate, 
     hereby move to bring to a close the debate on the modified 
     committee substitute for S. 1415, the tobacco legislation.
         John Kerry, Bob Kerrey, Kent Conrad, Harry Reid, Paul 
           Wellstone, Dick Durbin, Patty Murray, Richard Bryan, 
           Tom Harkin, Carl Levin, Joe Biden, J. Lieberman, John 
           Glenn, Jeff Bingaman, Ron Wyden, and Max Baucus.


                            Call of the Roll

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. By unanimous consent, the quorum call under 
rule XXII is waived.


                                  Vote

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is, Is it the sense of the Senate 
that debate on the committee substitute for S. 1415 shall be brought to 
a close?
  The yeas and nays are required.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from New Hampshire (Mr. 
Gregg) is necessarily absent.
  I also announce that the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Specter) is 
absent because of illness.
  The yeas and nays resulted--yeas 43, nays 55, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 153 Leg.]

                                YEAS--43

     Akaka
     Baucus
     Biden
     Bingaman
     Boxer
     Breaux
     Bryan
     Bumpers
     Byrd
     Cleland
     Conrad
     Daschle
     Dodd
     Dorgan
     Durbin
     Feingold
     Feinstein
     Glenn
     Graham
     Harkin
     Hollings
     Inouye
     Johnson
     Kennedy
     Kerrey
     Kerry
     Kohl
     Landrieu
     Lautenberg
     Leahy

[[Page S6002]]


     Levin
     Lieberman
     Mikulski
     Moseley-Braun
     Moynihan
     Murray
     Reed
     Reid
     Rockefeller
     Sarbanes
     Torricelli
     Wellstone
     Wyden

                                NAYS--55

     Abraham
     Allard
     Ashcroft
     Bennett
     Bond
     Brownback
     Burns
     Campbell
     Chafee
     Coats
     Cochran
     Collins
     Coverdell
     Craig
     D'Amato
     DeWine
     Domenici
     Enzi
     Faircloth
     Ford
     Frist
     Gorton
     Gramm
     Grams
     Grassley
     Hagel
     Hatch
     Helms
     Hutchinson
     Hutchison
     Inhofe
     Jeffords
     Kempthorne
     Kyl
     Lott
     Lugar
     Mack
     McCain
     McConnell
     Murkowski
     Nickles
     Robb
     Roberts
     Roth
     Santorum
     Sessions
     Shelby
     Smith (NH)
     Smith (OR)
     Snowe
     Stevens
     Thomas
     Thompson
     Thurmond
     Warner

                             NOT VOTING--2

     Gregg
     Specter
       
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Hutchinson). On this vote the yeas are 43; 
the nays are 55. Three-fifths of the Senators duly chosen and sworn not 
having voted in the affirmative, the motion is rejected.
  The Senator from Arizona.
  Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, on behalf of the leader, I ask unanimous 
consent that the bill remain in status quo until 12 noon, for the 
purpose of debate only.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, let me just say that may even go until 
12:30. The problem is the amendment we had agreed to take up next--that 
would have been Senator Gramm, Senator Domenici, and Senator Roth--they 
have not completed the language so the other side is able to examine 
this language, which is a courtesy, obviously, that is expected around 
here. But we do expect to move forward with the Gramm amendment and 
debate on it either within a half-hour or an hour.
  Mr. President, let me just say again, it is my understanding that 
Senator Hatch had a substitute he wanted considered, that Senator Gramm 
and Senator Domenici had a substitute, and there is also the very 
important issue of the farmer aspect of this bill to which the Senator 
from Kentucky, Senator Ford, is obviously very involved in and 
committed. There is also the issue of attorneys' fees that would be the 
subject of an amendment.
  I also am aware that there are several hundred, maybe, other 
amendments that have been--quote--filed. Those are amendments which I 
know in the view of the sponsors are important amendments, but I have 
to say I do not believe that they are vital to the progress of this 
bill. Many of them we could accept. Many of them I think could be 
dispensed with in a short period of time.
  After the disposition of the Gramm amendment, which I understand 
there will be a time agreement on, I hope then that would be an 
appropriate time to determine not only where we go for the rest of the 
day, but for the rest of this bill. We are in the middle of the third 
week of consideration of this legislation. I thought the passage of the 
drug amendment yesterday was important. A tax cut, as we may enact 
today--although there certainly are some concerns I have about the size 
of it--if it passes, then I think it is important for us to determine 
on both sides of the aisle as to where we want to go after that.
  Mr. FORD. Mr. President, will the Senator yield for a question?
  Mr. McCAIN. I will be glad to yield at any time to the Senator from 
Kentucky.
  Mr. FORD. I thank my friend. When you go to the marriage penalty 
amendment, or at least the minority has an opportunity to visit with 
it, and then you indicate that you want to go maybe to the substitute--
you have at least one, possibly two--would it take a unanimous consent 
agreement to set aside the pending amendments, then, in order to go to 
the substitutes?
  Mr. McCAIN. It is my understanding, if I could respond to the Senator 
from Kentucky, that we have been conducting this whole procedure on a 
sort of agreement basis. I would like to say in response to the Senator 
from Kentucky, I understand what he is getting at here. The Senator 
from Kentucky wants the issue of the farmers in his State, and 
throughout America----
  Mr. FORD. And I prefer it not to be under cloture, when my time is 
limited.
  Mr. McCain. I understand. I think it is important the Senator's 
concerns be satisfied. I think the Senator from Massachusetts and I, 
along with the leaders, should sit down with him and try to address 
this very important concern that he has.
  Mr. FORD. I will be more than happy to do that. As the majority 
leader set out the sequence of getting this bill out of here, that we 
would have to pull a bill from the calendar in order to have a tax bill 
to put this one on to get it back to the House, there are a lot of 
slips between the lip and the cup before this bill will leave the 
Chamber as it relates to the farmer question.
  I thank the Chair.
  Mr. McCain. As I mentioned yesterday, after we passed the drug bill 
and had an agreement to move forward with tax cuts, I felt a lot more 
like Bob Hope felt----
  Mr. FORD. He is alive.
  Mr. McCain. In that the bill is alive, than I did some sense of 
exhilaration.
  So I also am very aware of how difficult this agriculture--tobacco 
farmer issue is to the Senator from Kentucky. He and I have worked 
together for many, many years on many, many issues. I know the Senator 
from Kentucky and I have such a relationship that he will not be 
mistreated, given the consideration which he deserves on this issue.
  Mr. FORD. I thank my friend. I will not mistreat him until I tell him 
I am going to.
  Mr. McCain. Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  Several Senators addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Massachusetts.
  Mr. KERRY. If I could just add to the list the Senator from Arizona 
just ran through, in addition to the amendments that he mentioned is 
also an amendment by the Senator from Rhode Island, Senator Reed, on 
advertising, and there is an amendment of mine, joined with a number of 
different colleagues on both sides of the aisle, on the issue of 
children. So those are two other issues. Time agreements on both of 
them, however, will be easily arrived at, and they should not delay us 
as I think most of the issues the Senator listed will be subject to 
time agreement. Obviously the issue of the Senator from Kentucky is 
more contentious, and one we need to work on over the course of the 
next days. And we will.
  With that said, we are waiting for the language from Senator Roth to 
add to the language from Senator Gramm. Then, hopefully, we will be 
able to proceed. I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Illinois.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak for up to 
10 minutes as in morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. The 
Senator from Illinois is recognized.
  Mr. DURBIN. I thank the Chair.
  (The remarks of Mr. Durbin pertaining to the introduction of S. 2152 
are located in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced Bills 
and Joint Resolutions.'')
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I yield back the remainder of my time.
  Mr. BOND addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Missouri.
  Mr. BOND. Mr. President, as we speak, there is work going on on 
redrafting the Gramm-Roth amendment to add what I think is a vitally 
important provision to provide tax relief through full deductibility of 
health insurance for the self-employed. To me that is another very, 
very significant step that we should take for the purpose of fairness, 
the purpose of assuring that all people in this country have health 
care, to ensure that those who may suffer illnesses or disability as a 
result of the use of tobacco have adequate care when they become ill.
  The revised amendment has not yet been offered, but I rise in strong 
support of the Gramm-Roth amendment, because it will return a portion 
of the revenues raised from the tobacco tax to taxpayers who are 
bearing the burden of this tax increase. I am pleased to be a 
cosponsor.
  The objective is to discourage use of tobacco by raising the price, 
and certainly tax increases will do that, but the purpose of the bill 
should not be to raise the taxes and produce massive

[[Page S6003]]

new Government spending. I think it is appropriate that we use this 
bill to provide tax relief to the people who are going to be paying 
increased taxes on tobacco.
  The amendment's phaseout of the marriage penalty for couples with 
incomes of less than $50,000 is a solid first step to eliminating the 
marriage penalty completely. We should be encouraging people to marry 
and raise their children in a marriage.
  Under current law, many two-income wage earners, particularly if they 
are both earning good wages, are penalized by paying higher taxes as a 
result of being married than they would be paying if they were single. 
In addition, I think it is fitting that part of the tobacco tax 
revenues will be used to ease the burdens of the tax increase which 
will be borne by Americans in the lowest tax brackets.
  I am also extremely pleased that part of these revenues will be used 
to eliminate another inequity in the Tax Code--the deductibility of 
health insurance for the self-employed. This amendment will finally--
finally--make full deductibility a reality beginning next year.
  Again, it is fitting to use tobacco revenues for this purpose since 
two-thirds of families headed by a self-employed individual with no 
health insurance earn less than $50,000 a year. That is from a March 
1997 Current Population Survey. I don't have in hand the statistics on 
the number of those people who may be tobacco users, but I suspect that 
it is a significant number who would be taxed by the increased cost of 
cigarettes who would find it difficult to make commitments, like buying 
health insurance, if they don't have this relief.
  Today, while the self-employed, as a result of our actions in the 
last couple of years, which I led and strongly supported, can deduct 45 
percent of their health insurance costs, they are still not on a level 
playing field with large businesses which can deduct 100 percent.
  While the self-employed are slated to have full deductibility in 
2007, and I am very grateful to the Members of this body who supported 
our efforts to get that goal, what self-employed person or family 
members can wait 9 more years to get sick? It just isn't going to 
happen. Nobody is willing to wait 9 years to get their health 
insurance, and we should not wait 9 years to give them fair tax 
treatment for buying health insurance for themselves and their 
families.
  An immediate increase in the deduction to 100 percent would make 
health insurance more affordable and accessible to 5.4 million 
Americans in families headed by self-employed individuals who currently 
have no health insurance. Full deductibility will also help bring 
insurance to 1.5 million children who live in households headed by 
self-employed individuals where there is no health insurance.
  Coverage of these self-employed individuals and their children 
through the self-employed health insurance deduction will enable the 
private sector to address the health care needs of these individuals 
rather than having an expensive, intrusive, and burdensome Federal 
bureaucracy to do it.
  It has long been my goal that the self-employed have immediate 100 
percent deductibility of health insurance costs. I have sought every 
opportunity to achieve that goal.
  In 1995, my amendment to the Balanced Budget Act, which President 
Clinton vetoed, would have increased the health insurance deduction for 
the self-employed to 50 percent.
  In 1996, I worked with Senator Kassebaum and Senator Kennedy to 
include in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act an 
increase in the self-employed health insurance deduction incrementally 
over 10 years to 80 percent.
  In 1997, provisions of my Home-Based Business Fairness Act were 
included in the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997, finally increasing the 
deduction to 100 percent in 2007 and accelerating the phase-in over 
existing law.
  This year, I and others who have been strong supporters, on a 
bipartisan basis, of this measure worked with Chairman Domenici to 
include language in the budget resolution calling for funds to be 
available to accelerate the 100-percent deductibility of health 
insurance by the self-employed.
  If this tobacco bill is signed into law without full deductibility, I 
intend to be back--and I will be back as many times as it takes--to 
finish the job. Right now, full deductibility is available in 2007. I 
intend to be here to see it move up to an immediate deductibility to 
end the glaring unfairness of the discrimination against people who 
have to buy their own health insurance who are not provided health 
insurance by their employer.
  The goal of providing full deductibility of health insurance costs 
for the self-employed has long enjoyed broad bipartisan support. My 
colleague who was just on the floor has long championed it. We do have 
support on both sides of the aisle. We have support from small 
business, we have support from agriculture, because it is right, it is 
necessary.
  We are talking about health care. We are talking about eliminating a 
penalty, a tax penalty that discourages people from being able to 
acquire their own health insurance for themselves and their families.
  Let us continue the spirit of bipartisanship by adopting this 
amendment and not miss an opportunity to help the self-employed get the 
insurance coverage they need and deserve. I look forward to working 
with my colleagues on this amendment when it comes to the floor. I 
intend to be a cosponsor. And I trust that we will have a strong 
bipartisan majority for the amendment when it is offered.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  Mr. WELLSTONE addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Minnesota.

                          ____________________