    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 25 (Monday, June 26, 2000)]
    [Page 1407]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    Statement on Congressional Action on the Tobacco Settlement Lawsuit

    June 19, 2000

        Last year the Department of Justice filed a civil lawsuit against
    the tobacco companies to recover the billions of dollars the Federal
    Government spends each year on tobacco-related health care costs.
    Tobacco-caused diseases kill more than 400,000 Americans each year and
    cost billions in health care costs, including more than $20 billion in
    Federal payments under Medicare and other programs. The Justice
    Department's suit would simply hold the tobacco industry financially
    responsible for reimbursement of these costs.
        The suit is based on overwhelming evidence, much of it from the
    tobacco industry's own documents. This evidence shows that the tobacco
    companies have conspired over the past 50 years to defraud and mislead
    the American public and to conceal information about the effects of
    smoking.
        The Congress, in its appropriations bills, is undermining this
    lawsuit by preventing the agencies that have been harmed and that could
    recover billions--the Defense Department, the Veterans Administration,
    and the Department of Health and Human Services--from providing any
    support. If Congress cuts off funding for this lawsuit or interferes
    with the Justice Department's pursuit of the lawsuit, Congress will be
    capitulating to the tobacco industry once again at the expense of
    taxpayers and their children.
        It would be wrong for Congress to undermine the authority of the
    Department of Justice and block this lawsuit rather than allow it to be
    decided on its merits in court. I call on Congress to support rather
    than undermine these efforts and allow the Justice Department to keep
    working to give taxpayers their day in court.