CQ TODAY ONLINE NEWS
June 12, 2009 – 3:53 p.m.
Congress Sends Obama Legislation on Regulating Tobacco
The House voted overwhelmingly to send legislation to President Obama that gives the Food and Drug Administration the power to regulate cigarettes, capping a battle that dates back to 1996.
It represents the strongest government action in years to crack down on smoking, which health authorities have repeatedly identified as the No. 1 preventable cause of death in America.
The legislation, authorizing the FDA to oversee the nicotine content, marketing and labeling of cigarettes and other tobacco products, cleared the House on Friday on a 307-97 vote.
The Senate had passed its amended version of the measure Thursday by 79-17. President Obama said, “I look forward to signing it.”
Sponsored by Henry A. Waxman , D-Calif., in the House and Edward M. Kennedy , D-Mass., in the Senate (
The FDA first tried 13 years ago to regulate tobacco products to deter youth smoking — only to be thwarted by a 2000 Supreme Court ruling that it lacked authority to do so.
“It’s hard to believe that we have finally reached this day after more than a decade of effort and countless defeats along the way,” said Waxman, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. “I’m proud that we’ve made it to this point, but it has taken us far too long.”
He said that “times have changed, and public opinion has changed,” breaking the influence of a once-powerful tobacco lobby.
Obama underscore that point during a hastily scheduled appearance in the White House Rose Garden less than an hour after the House acted.
“This bill has obviously been a long time coming,” Obama said. “We’ve known for years, even decades, about the harmful, addictive, and often deadly effects of tobacco products .... And after a decade of opposition, all of us are finally about to achieve the victory with this bill, a bill that truly defines change in Washington.”
Waxman said the FDA is the government agency best qualified to regulate cigarettes and other tobacco products, given its combination of scientific expertise, regulatory experience and a public health focus.
He said both Obama and the FDA, under new Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg, are “eager and ready to take this on.”
Rep. Jared Polis , D-Colo., said, “Tobacco is a killer, more than 400,000 deaths every years — more than AIDS, alcohol, cocaine, heroine, suicide, homicide and automobile accidents combined.”
He said research shows 90 percent of the 8.6 million current smokers in America first began the habit as teenagers or even younger. “Big Tobacco claims they don’t market to kids. Nevertheless, they do a remarkably good job of getting kids to try their products. This has to change,” Polis said.
The bill now headed to Obama’s desk would outlaw all flavor additives, except menthol. The ban is aimed at so-called candy flavored cigarettes such as “Mandalay Lime,” “Mocha Mint,” “Warm Winter Toffee” and “Cinnzabar.”
The measure would impose user fees on tobacco manufacturers and importers to underwrite the cost of the new FDA oversight.
It is the second major step Congress has taken this year to deter smoking, which health experts say is the cause of 400,000 deaths annually in the United States.
In February, Obama signed into law a major expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (PL 111-3) financed by a 61-cents-per-pack increase in the federal tax on cigarettes, pushing the levy to $1 a pack.
Rep. Howard Coble , R-N.C., whose district is home to thousands of farmers and factory workers who depend on tobacco for their livelihoods, assailed the legislation.
“Allowing the FDA to regulate tobacco in any fashion inevitably will lead to FDA regulating the family farm,” he warned.
The bill, declared Rep. Virginia Foxx , R-N.C., is “emblematic of the attempt by the majority party to control every aspect of our lives.”
As in the Senate, advocates of the regulatory bill stressed the health risks of smoking and spoke in often emotional terms of the toll smoking had taken on their families.
“This plague has touched almost everyone,” said Polis.
Rep. Jane Harman , D-Calif., who watched both parents die of smoking-related diseases, said, “It was a nightmare, and one I would spare other families.”
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