By NEIL H. SIMON, Media General News Service
Email to a Friend
Stumble It!
WASHINGTON — Cigarettes would be subject to government regulation for the first time ever under a bill passed today by the U.S. House.
But the bill, which passed with a veto-proof vote of 326 to102, now faces an uphill climb in the Senate, where a similar bill has been stalled since last August.
"You don't start celebrating when the ball is on the 10-yard line," said M. Cass Wheeler, chief executive officer of the American Heart Association. "This will all be for nothing if we don't score a touchdown with a win in the Senate."
The legislation, which has divided the tobacco industry, would give the Food and Drug Administration the power to curtail marketing further; control nicotine levels; and enlarge government warning labels on all tobacco products.
Rep. Eric I. Cantor, R-Va., said the bill (HR 1108) would encourage work to make tobacco products — blamed for killing about 400,000 Americans a year — less harmful.
"The net result to all of us will be to increase the health outlook for consumers of tobacco," said Cantor, the top House recipient of tobacco industry campaign contributions.
He said the bill also would protect the 5,600 Richmond-area jobs supplied by Philip Morris USA.
Philip Morris USA, the nation's leading cigarette manufacturer, is the only cigarette maker to support the FDA regulation bill publicly.
"We think today's vote by the House of Representatives is an important step forward on this legislation," said Bill Phelps, a spokesman for Henrico County-based Altria Group, the parent company of Philip Morris USA.
"Such regulation could benefit consumers, shareholders and other stakeholders."
Three of Virginia's 11 members of Congress voted against the bill. They are: Reps. J. Randy Forbes, R-4th, Virgil H. Goode Jr., R-5th, and Robert W. Goodlatte, R-6th.
The bill — dubbed The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act — would ban most flavored cigarettes, except for menthol. The provision is aimed at preventing teenagers from smoking.
While approval from the full House marks the most significant legislative action this bill has ever seen, Senate Democratic leadership has made no decision on whether it will call for a vote in the waning weeks of a congressional session already overshadowed by the November elections.
Reynolds American Inc. President Susan Ivey said, "We really don't think it will reach the Senate floor."
"We continue to have dialogue to talk about potential alternative regulation. And we prepare ourselves for any implications of this current FDA bill," she said.
Reynolds and other bill opponents have argued that by limiting marketing, the bill would protect Philip Morris' position as market leader.
The Bush administration, congressional Republicans and several tobacco-industry lobbyists said an overburdened, underfunded FDA is the wrong agency to oversee tobacco.
House Republican leader John A. Boehner of Ohio, a longtime smoker, called the bill a "boneheaded idea."
"There is not a smoker in America who doesn't know smoking isn't good for them," Boehner said. "Do we need the government to tell us?"
The FDA's new regulatory duties would cost about $2.2 billion over five years, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The bill includes a federal tax on cigarettes that would increase from a penny per pack this year to at least a nickel per pack by 2018.
If the Senate and House fail to pass the same tobacco-regulation bill and get it signed it into law, then lawmakers will have to restart the process with a new bill when the new Congress begins in 2009.
Both presidential candidates are co-sponsors of the Senate version of the bill.
Neil H. Simon is a staff writer in Media General's Washington Bureau.
Media General reporter Richard Craver contributed to this report.
****
What do you think? Comment below.
But the bill, which passed with a veto-proof vote of 326 to102, now faces an uphill climb in the Senate, where a similar bill has been stalled since last August.
"You don't start celebrating when the ball is on the 10-yard line," said M. Cass Wheeler, chief executive officer of the American Heart Association. "This will all be for nothing if we don't score a touchdown with a win in the Senate."
The legislation, which has divided the tobacco industry, would give the Food and Drug Administration the power to curtail marketing further; control nicotine levels; and enlarge government warning labels on all tobacco products.
Rep. Eric I. Cantor, R-Va., said the bill (HR 1108) would encourage work to make tobacco products — blamed for killing about 400,000 Americans a year — less harmful.
"The net result to all of us will be to increase the health outlook for consumers of tobacco," said Cantor, the top House recipient of tobacco industry campaign contributions.
He said the bill also would protect the 5,600 Richmond-area jobs supplied by Philip Morris USA.
Philip Morris USA, the nation's leading cigarette manufacturer, is the only cigarette maker to support the FDA regulation bill publicly.
"We think today's vote by the House of Representatives is an important step forward on this legislation," said Bill Phelps, a spokesman for Henrico County-based Altria Group, the parent company of Philip Morris USA.
"Such regulation could benefit consumers, shareholders and other stakeholders."
Three of Virginia's 11 members of Congress voted against the bill. They are: Reps. J. Randy Forbes, R-4th, Virgil H. Goode Jr., R-5th, and Robert W. Goodlatte, R-6th.
The bill — dubbed The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act — would ban most flavored cigarettes, except for menthol. The provision is aimed at preventing teenagers from smoking.
While approval from the full House marks the most significant legislative action this bill has ever seen, Senate Democratic leadership has made no decision on whether it will call for a vote in the waning weeks of a congressional session already overshadowed by the November elections.
Reynolds American Inc. President Susan Ivey said, "We really don't think it will reach the Senate floor."
"We continue to have dialogue to talk about potential alternative regulation. And we prepare ourselves for any implications of this current FDA bill," she said.
Reynolds and other bill opponents have argued that by limiting marketing, the bill would protect Philip Morris' position as market leader.
The Bush administration, congressional Republicans and several tobacco-industry lobbyists said an overburdened, underfunded FDA is the wrong agency to oversee tobacco.
House Republican leader John A. Boehner of Ohio, a longtime smoker, called the bill a "boneheaded idea."
"There is not a smoker in America who doesn't know smoking isn't good for them," Boehner said. "Do we need the government to tell us?"
The FDA's new regulatory duties would cost about $2.2 billion over five years, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The bill includes a federal tax on cigarettes that would increase from a penny per pack this year to at least a nickel per pack by 2018.
If the Senate and House fail to pass the same tobacco-regulation bill and get it signed it into law, then lawmakers will have to restart the process with a new bill when the new Congress begins in 2009.
Both presidential candidates are co-sponsors of the Senate version of the bill.
Neil H. Simon is a staff writer in Media General's Washington Bureau.
Media General reporter Richard Craver contributed to this report.
****
What do you think? Comment below.