    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (2000, Book I)]
    [March 21, 2000]
    [Page 506]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Statement on the Supreme Court's Decision on Tobacco Regulation
    March 21, 2000

        Since we took office, Vice President Gore and I have worked hard to
    protect our children from the dangers of tobacco. Five years ago, the
    FDA put forward an important proposal to protect children from tobacco
    by eliminating advertising aimed at children and curbing minors' access
    to tobacco products. Today's Supreme Court opinion, while holding that
    Congress has not given FDA the authority to regulate tobacco products,
    does affirm our view that tobacco use by young people ``poses perhaps
    the single most significant threat to public health in the United
    States.''
        If we are to protect our children from the harms of tobacco,
    Congress must now enact the provisions of the FDA rule. Fortunately,
    those protections have strong bipartisan support: in 1998, 57 Senators
    supported a bill negotiated by Senators Bill Frist and John McCain containing
    provisions comparable to those included in the FDA regulation.
        So today I call upon the leadership of Congress to take up the
    bipartisan Frist-McCain legislation. Nearly 4 million children under the
    age of 18 smoke cigarettes, 3,000 more start each day, and 1,000 will
    have their lives cut short as a result. Every year, more than 400,000
    Americans die of tobacco-related diseases; nearly 80 percent of them
    started smoking as children. Even some in the tobacco industry--after
    fighting the FDA rule in court--now say they support regulation of
    tobacco. I believe that by working together across party lines, we can
    protect our children and save lives.