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UP IN SMOKE?
June 17, 1998The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer Transcript |
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The tobacco bill died in the Senate after supporters twice failed to get the votes needed to keep it alive. After this background report, Senators on either side of the aisle discuss the contentious points.
KWAME HOLMAN: Today--four weeks after the Senate began debate on comprehensive tobacco legislation, the bill's supporters and opponents agreed the time had come to make some final decisions.
A RealAudio version of this segment is available.
NEWSHOUR LINKS:
June 17, 1998
Two Senators death of the tobacco bill.
June 10, 1998
The debate over the tobacco legislation bill.
May 21, 1998
Should tobacco companies be liable for a maximum of $8 billion in any one year?
May 19, 1998
Republicans make last minute changes to the new tobacco legislation.
April 8, 1998
The tobacco industry withdraws its support for the Congressional tobacco legislation.
March 12, 1998
President Clinton endorses the bipartisan tobacco proposal.
January 29, 1998
Steven Goldstone, the CEO of RJR Nabisco, acknowledges the health risk of tobacco products.
January 16, 1998
Texas and Minnesota have suits pending against the tobacco companies.
January 15, 1998
Documents show R.J. Reynolds used Joe Camel to attract young smokers.
Online Forum
Congressman Waxman and Connecticut Attorney General Blumenthal debate the tobacco settlement.
Browse the NewsHour's coverage of congress and health.
OUTSIDE LINKS:
The Food and Drug Administration .
A defining day in the Senate.
SEN. JOHN ASHCROFT: Today will be a defining day in Washington DC. It will be a defining day in the Congress of the United States. More specifically, it will be a defining day in the United States Senate.
KWAME HOLMAN: And Missouri's John Ashcroft added that this would be a day in which Republicans would be called on to reestablish their identity.
SEN. JOHN ASHCROFT: This is a defining moment for a Republican-controlled Senate. How will we respond to this question which is squarely before us today? Are we going to be tax and spend, respecting government, or are we going to say to the American people we protect the people more than we respect government; we are not going to let government to come and sweep out of the resources and freedom of American citizens the kind of resources that are provided for in this bill?
Tobacco bill details.
KWAME HOLMAN: An hour later, Ashcroft and his Republican Senate colleagues gathered in the offices of Majority Leader Trent Lott to decide what their answers would be. The bill--as brought to the Senate floor by Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain-would require tobacco companies to pay $516 billion over 25 years to--among other things--reimburse states for the costs of tobacco-related illnesses and for health education programs. The bill also would increase the federal tax on cigarettes by a dollar ten cents a pack and allow the government to restrict tobacco advertising and regulate the nicotine in cigarettes.
KWAME HOLMAN: Throughout the Senate debate almost all Democrats and about a dozen Republicans have stood in support of the bill, while the majority of Republicans have opposed it. But those Republicans have made significant changes in the bill, adding amendments that would provide a tax cut through a reduction in the so-called Marriage Penalty; provide money for drug prevention programs; and limit fees of attorneys involved in the lawsuits against tobacco companies. And Senator McCain, himself, left the meeting in Majority Leader Lott's office to remind the Capitol Hill news media of other provisions in his bill Republicans support.
SEN. JOHN McCAIN: The prohibition of needle exchanges, the provision of vouchers, and, of course, relaxation of certain union provisions that are in the bill, which never would have stood on their own. And could I say that I believe Republicans should vote for this bill because it's a Republican bill.
KWAME HOLMAN: But on the Senate floor Massachusetts Democrat John Kerry predicted the majority of Republicans still won't vote for the bill.
SEN. JOHN KERRY: Our friends on the Republican side of the aisle are not going to say no to this bill because it doesn't have a tax cut. They are not going to say no to this bill because it doesn't have a firm clamp on attorneys' fees. They're not going to say no to this bill because it doesn't have a drug plan. They're going to wind up saying no to this bill because that's what the tobacco companies want them to do.
The bill enters legislative limbo.
KWAME HOLMAN: The meeting in Senator Lott's office lasted nearly two hours. If any final decisions were made, no one who was in attendance would say. However, Senator McCain said he hoped the decision would be to hold an immediate cloture vote on the Senate floor. Under that procedure 60 votes would be required to end the debate on the tobacco bill and move to a final vote.
SEN. JOHN MC CAIN: I hope that that would be the decision that the leadership would seek agreement from the Democrats to do it today and waive the normal two-day rule.
KWAME HOLMAN: Late this afternoon Senate Majority Leader Lott requested a cloture vote be held within the hour, but Lott also unveiled another procedural effort.
SEN. TRENT LOTT: Mr. President, I further ask that following the cloture vote-Senator Stevens be recognized to raise a budget act point of order-
KWAME HOLMAN: The move would disqualify the tobacco bill from further consideration because it violates recently enacted budget rules prohibiting legislation that calls for spending more money than it takes in.
SEN. TRENT LOTT: This bill violates the budget act in several instances. I think about six different points-at least one of them we are pointing out here today. So that's all it means, is that you don't want to waive the budget act that we've agreed to, to pass this bill that started out well-intentioned but has grown like topsy to the point where, you know, we've got to decide here whether we want to take this cup from our lips and move on or not.
SEN. JOSEPH BIDEN: It was my understanding that the Majority Leader some seven, six, five, ten days ago, told us that this bill would go nowhere unless we added a Republican provision relating to the marriage penalty. And now he's telling us that it violates the budget because we passed on this floor what he asked us to do. Now, I want to tell you I find that incredibly fascinating.
KWAME HOLMAN: Like cloture, raising the budget rule also requires 60 votes and supporters of the tobacco bill knew they would come up short on both counts.
SEN. TOM DASCHLE: This will be an effort this afternoon to kill this bill, and the gun is on the other side. They will shoot it dead, and it will be dead if those votes occur this afternoon as we predict they will vote. And that's a tragedy.
SEN. DICK DURBIN: I want to tell you, the folks today who are killing this tobacco bill on the floor are on the wrong side of history. In defending the tobacco companies they are defending the indefensible. In refusing to protect our children they are attacking the vulnerable.
SEN. TRENT LOTT: I want to remind the Senate that I have given a lot of time, a lot of personal effort, and have taken a lot of flack for trying to find a way to get a bill through here that was responsible enough that we could choke it down in a reasonable period of time, and we're not there, and I can't figure any way to get a bill that would be credible that we could get through here.
KWAME HOLMAN: The effort to end debate fell three votes short of the sixty required, and the Senate moved on early this evening to the budget waiver measure. That vote was expected to result in sending the issue back to the Commerce Committee, which its chairman, John McCain, says effectively killed the tobacco bill.
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