[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 205 (Wednesday, December 18, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7123-S7124]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                           EXECUTIVE CALENDAR

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will 
proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the following 
nomination, which the clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read the nomination of Matthew Walden 
McFarland, of Ohio, to be United States District Judge for the Southern 
District of Ohio.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Illinois.


                             Tobacco to 21

  Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, this week we are going to be voting on 
some appropriation bills. They are rather large. They call them 
minibuses. But there will be six or eight appropriations bills bunched 
together, and they will include things other than strictly spending 
measures.
  One of the areas that will be addressed is the age that you must 
reach to purchase tobacco and vaping materials in the United States. It 
is known euphemistically as T-21, and I have supported it for years. 
The notion of raising the purchasing age to 21 for these products, to 
me, just makes sense.
  We know that they are addictive. Both cigarette tobacco and vaping 
materials have nicotine in them, a highly addictive chemical. Raising 
the age of purchase across the United States to 21 makes sense.
  But I am disappointed as well. Although I originally sponsored this 
bill, there have been several revelations in the last few months, which 
call for us to move far beyond the idea of establishing a new age for 
purchasing these products, and let me be specific.
  One of the things we have been working on is trying to address the 
shocking increase in the use of vaping materials and e-cigarettes by 
young people across America. It has been called a public health 
epidemic, not by a politician but by the Commissioner of the Food and 
Drug Administration. That Commissioner told us, as well as the Surgeon 
General of the United States, that this is an issue that cannot be 
ignored.

[[Page S7124]]

  Today, we estimate that nearly 30 percent of school-age children are 
vaping--more than 5 million kids across America.
  A group of young high schoolers came in to see me from New York last 
week and said: Senator, you are all wrong. In our schools it is a 
majority.
  A majority of the students are vaping, not only outside of the 
school, but even in the classroom. They have hooked up vaping devices 
to the clothing that they are wearing, and when the teacher turns his 
or her back on the class, they are puffing on their vaping materials--
their Juuls--and blowing the white vapor into the air of the classroom.
  It sounds incredible, but they told me it is true and it happens all 
over the school--in the restrooms, in the cafeteria, in the classrooms.
  The reason it is happening is that so many students are vaping now 
and it is an addiction. As these students continue to vape, their 
appetite for the product grows.
  Kids are using these products for many reasons, and I can get into 
the psychology of it for a minute, but let me dwell on the obvious.
  The flavors that are being sold on these vaping materials are 
designed for them--to attract children to Juul's products, to flavors 
like Cotton Candy, Unicorn Milk--whatever the heck that is--Cool Mint, 
Mom's Sugar Cookies, and, yes, Menthol.
  According to the Food and Drug Administration, more than 80 percent 
of children who vape start with a flavored e-cigarette.
  Now, the vaping industry says: Oh, you have got it all wrong. You 
see, this is a non-tobacco product which people can use to get off 
cigarettes.
  Well, that sounds pretty noble; doesn't it? We want people to move 
away from something more dangerous, like tobacco cigarettes.
  But when you look at the incidence of people using this product, it 
is miniscule in terms of adults with a tobacco addiction moving to 
vaping products, and the number of children and young students moving 
from non-vaping to vaping is dramatic. As I mentioned, the official 
figures are 30 percent of high school students.
  According to the Food and Drug Administration, one of the things that 
is luring young people to this behavior is the flavoring or the flavor 
pods. Does anyone believe these flavors are intended for some 50-year-
old chain smoker who wants to give up on tobacco cigarettes--flavors 
like Farley's Gnarly Sauce, Bubble Purp by Chubby Bubbles, Blue Razz by 
Candy King, Cotton Candy by Zonk? Some 50-year-old is attracted to 
Cotton Candy by Zonk?
  We know better. These flavor pods are made for kids--to attract kids, 
get them started, get them hooked, and make them lifelong customers.
  Together with bipartisan colleagues, I have pressed the Food and Drug 
Administration and the White House for years to put an end to these 
kid-friendly flavor pods.
  Well, the tobacco giant Altria--it used to be Philip Morris, if I am 
not mistaken--stepped in and bought the lion's share of the stock of 
Juul, the most prolific producer of vaping devices in the United 
States.
  Altria knows this business and how to attract kids because they used 
to make Marlboro cigarettes. Remember that cowboy designed to appeal 
across the board, particularly to young smokers?
  Well, now they have a new gig. It is called vaping, e-cigarettes, and 
Altria has bought in in a big way.
  They have been taking out ads to support raising the Federal age to 
purchase tobacco products to 21.
  Wait a minute. A tobacco company wants to raise the age for 
purchasing the products?
  They do. They see it as inevitable, but it is also part of their 
market strategy. That is the same policy I have supported, and I thank 
my colleagues Senator Schatz and Senator Kaine for joining in the 
effort, along with Senator Romney. But what we have seen is that Altria 
has invested $13 billion to acquire a 35-percent stake in Juul, which 
controls more than 70 percent of the vaping market. Tobacco is big in 
vaping.
  Altria and Juul together now believe that if the only thing we do is 
just raise the tobacco age to 21, they will be in the clear and they 
can avoid the scrutiny for their targeted efforts to hook kids on e-
cigarettes.
  I disagree. I have made clear that any T-21, ``Tobacco to 21'' policy 
must be coupled with meaningful provisions to get rid of the e-
cigarette flavors now addicting our kids, but they have turned to one 
of their allies, Senator McConnell, on this effort, who was an original 
sponsor on T-21. His party resisted the effort to join the banning of 
flavor pods for e-cigarettes as part of the T-21 bill in our 
appropriations bill.
  I fear that the spending bill will come before us and include just 
the T-21 policy, and that of course doesn't address what is happening 
with vaping among children in America.
  If we are serious about sparing Americans, particularly our kids, 
from addictions to nicotine, it has to reach beyond tobacco cigarettes 
to vaping. It is a mistake not to do so.
  The public health community agrees with me on that. Any serious 
solution to skyrocketing rates of youth e-cigarette use must include 
the removal of kid-friendly flavors--not just the tobacco industry's 
preferred policy--and I will continue to work with Members on both 
sides of the aisle in pushing to do so.
  Finally, let me say on this subject that on September 15, President 
Trump held a press conference in the Oval Office on this subject of 
vaping. Sitting next to him was the First Lady of the United States, 
Melania Trump. She doesn't often stand up on political issues, but she 
is the mother of a teenager, and she decided to speak out against 
vaping. I thanked her. I praised her along with the President. They did 
the right thing, but now we are not sure where the President is on this 
subject. We are not sure if he is going to continue his effort to end 
the scourge of vaping and e-cigarettes.
  I hope the President comes back to the position he announced in 
September. We need his help to ban these flavor pods.
  The recent appointee as FDA Commissioner, Stephen Hahn, has told me 
personally and many of my colleagues that he thinks this is a serious 
issue. I believe he ought to be given the authority to exercise his 
legal right and power to stop these pods and stop these devices as 
quickly as possible.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Cramer). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.