Congressional Budget for the United States Government for Fiscal Year 2005

CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET FOR THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2005

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, this is an extraordinarily important amendment. It should be strongly bipartisan. Is there a person listening to this debate who believes there is a Republican or a Democratic approach to research, finding cures for the diseases that are affecting America? There has been a strong, bipartisan commitment by Democratic and Republican Presidents to invest in research. The Senator from Iowa and the Senator from California have the courage to stand up today and say: We will not allow this effort to end; it will go forward; and we will fund it in an honest fashion, by raising the Federal cigarette tax by 61 cents. They will generate the billions of dollars that we need to put back into health care and health research so families across America have peace of mind that we are doing everything in our power to spare their children and their loved ones from diseases that are threatening them.

The second part, that is equally if not more important, is, as you increase the cost of tobacco products, fewer people buy them, particularly children. A 61-cent increase in the price of a pack of cigarettes or tobacco is going to discourage children from taking up the habit, becoming addicted, and, ultimately, losing their lives to this deadly addiction.

I commend this amendment. I hope my colleagues will rise to the occasion, on a bipartisan basis, to endorse this real investment in health care and research for America.

I thank the Senator from Iowa and the Senator from California for allowing me to speak.