[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 145 (Monday, October 5, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7114-S7117]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



        Transpacific Trade Agreement and Tobacco Warning Labels

  Mr. President, this Senator came to the floor on a happier note, to 
congratulate our Ambassador, the U.S. Trade Representative, for 
successfully completing the negotiations with 11 other nations in the 
Pacific Rim on this transpacific agreement.
  One of the items in there I had dug my heels in because we heard in 
Australia they had a law that required tobacco companies selling 
cigarettes to put a warning label on the cigarette package, just like 
we have to do in America--a warning about the hazardous effects of 
smoking.
  Lo and behold, it is now in a tribunal called the Investor-State 
Dispute Settlement, which had basically governed trade agreements 
between countries, and they were throwing out Australia's law that said 
you had to have a warning on a cigarette package.
  So having been involved from the beginning in Florida with the return 
of money from the tobacco companies to the government of Florida for 
all of the medical expenses Florida had borne under Medicaid, having 
removed tobacco stocks, as one of the three trustees of what governed 
the Florida pension plan, and removed tobacco stocks from the Florida 
pension fund, I am here to say hallelujah.
  The fact is that our Pacific trade agreement is going to honor the 
laws of

[[Page S7117]]

countries that want to cut down on tobacco use. As they referred to it 
in the trade agreement, it will exempt from the investor-state dispute 
settlement mechanism anything in a country with regard to tobacco 
control. This is a win for the health care advocates who are trying to 
keep our people informed about the hazards, what smoking tobacco will 
do to their health.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Idaho.
  Mr. CRAPO. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to yield back all 
time.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The question is, Will the Senate advise and consent to the nomination 
of Dale A. Drozd, of California, to be United States District Judge for 
the Eastern District of California?
  Mr. CRAPO. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There appears to be a sufficient second.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. CORNYN. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the 
Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Burr), the Senator from Texas (Mr. 
Cruz), the Senator from Wyoming (Mr. Enzi), the Senator from Arizona 
(Mr. McCain), the Senator from South Dakota (Mr. Rounds), the Senator 
from Florida (Mr. Rubio), the Senator from South Carolina (Mr. Scott), 
the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Toomey), and the Senator from 
Louisiana (Mr. Vitter).
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Delaware (Mr. Carper) is 
necessarily absent.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Lankford). Are there any other Senators in 
the Chamber desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 69, nays 21, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 274 Ex.]

                                YEAS--69

     Alexander
     Ayotte
     Baldwin
     Bennet
     Blumenthal
     Booker
     Boxer
     Brown
     Cantwell
     Capito
     Cardin
     Casey
     Coats
     Collins
     Coons
     Corker
     Cornyn
     Daines
     Donnelly
     Durbin
     Ernst
     Feinstein
     Flake
     Franken
     Gillibrand
     Graham
     Grassley
     Hatch
     Heinrich
     Heitkamp
     Heller
     Hirono
     Isakson
     Johnson
     Kaine
     King
     Kirk
     Klobuchar
     Leahy
     Lee
     Manchin
     Markey
     McCaskill
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Mikulski
     Murkowski
     Murphy
     Murray
     Nelson
     Paul
     Perdue
     Peters
     Portman
     Reed
     Reid
     Sanders
     Schatz
     Schumer
     Shaheen
     Stabenow
     Tester
     Thune
     Tillis
     Udall
     Warner
     Warren
     Whitehouse
     Wyden

                                NAYS--21

     Barrasso
     Blunt
     Boozman
     Cassidy
     Cochran
     Cotton
     Crapo
     Fischer
     Gardner
     Hoeven
     Inhofe
     Lankford
     McConnell
     Moran
     Risch
     Roberts
     Sasse
     Sessions
     Shelby
     Sullivan
     Wicker

                             NOT VOTING--10

     Burr
     Carper
     Cruz
     Enzi
     McCain
     Rounds
     Rubio
     Scott
     Toomey
     Vitter
  The nomination was confirmed.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the motion to 
reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table, and the 
President will be immediately notified of the Senate's action.

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