Family Smoking Prevention And Tobacco Control Act - Motion To Proceed - Continued

Floor Speech

Mr. WYDEN. Madam President, before he leaves the floor, let me tell the distinguished Senator from Oklahoma that I very much appreciate working with him on health care legislation. We did it in the House, and we are going to do it again. I think this time the Senate is going to make history and have comprehensive health reform, and I look forward to working with my colleague on it.

I come here today to express my strong support for the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. The lead sponsor of this legislation is, of course, Senator Kennedy. I say ``of course'' because the fact is, for four decades Senator Kennedy, often against great odds, has consistently come back again and again to lead the fight to improve health care for the people of our country. Sometimes it was for children. Sometimes it was for seniors. Sometimes it was for the disabled. Sometimes it was for those who have suffered mental illness. I could go on and on, and we would be here until breakfast time if I were to try to itemize all of the major pieces of health reform legislation Senator Kennedy has authored over the last four decades. It is very appropriate that he is the lead sponsor of this legislation. The fact is, after Congress passes this important bill and takes steps to improve public health, we will be very fortunate that Senator Kennedy is going to lead the Senate once more on comprehensive health reform. I wish to make clear as a member of the Senate Finance Committee that I am very much looking forward to Senator Kennedy's involvement in this issue and his championing of the cause of fixing American health care. He has been the leader on this issue for four decades.

I come to this topic with I think a personal perspective that also affects my role as a policymaker. In 1994, when I was a Member of the House, I served on the Health and Environment Subcommittee. It was chaired by HENRY WAXMAN, a great champion of trying to protect children against the dangers of tobacco. Chairman Waxman had the CEOs of major tobacco companies before his subcommittee. He put all of the CEOs under oath, and as expected, Chairman Waxman did a tremendous job in terms of laying out the case for public health. In fact, he was so effective, that by the time it came to my turn, I was hard-pressed to find a question he hadn't already asked the tobacco CEOs. Just as I was thinking about packing up, I turned to some of Chairman Waxman's staff, who are wonderful public servants, and I asked whether any of the members of our committee had asked the tobacco executives if they thought nicotine was addictive. The staff all told me nobody had. They said: You ought to ask them. I wish to take a minute to lay out that historical record of what happened.

I asked each one of the tobacco executives that day back in April of 1994 whether they thought nicotine was addictive. The president of Philip Morris spoke first and said:

I believe nicotine is not addictive, Yes.

Then the chairman and CEO of Reynolds Tobacco Company spoke and said:

Mr. Congressman, cigarettes and nicotine clearly do not meet the classic definition of addiction. There is no intoxication.

Then the president of U.S. Tobacco spoke. He said:

I don't believe that nicotine or our products are addictive.

The chairman and CEO of Lorillard said:

I believe that nicotine is not addictive.

The chairman and CEO of the Liggett Group said:

I believe nicotine is not addictive.

The chairman and CEO of Brown & Williamson said:

I believe nicotine is not addictive.

Finally, the president and CEO of American Tobacco said:

I, too, believe that nicotine is not addictive.

I made a vow after I had asked that question that during the time I would have the honor of serving in the House and later the Senate, to make an effort to do everything I could to hold tobacco companies and other companies that mislead the American people accountable. Today, we are able to do that because of the outstanding leadership of Chairman Kennedy. He is giving us the opportunity to hold accountable the tobacco companies that mislead the public with respect to their marketing practices and with respect to advertising. The Kennedy legislation is, in my view, very much needed to protect the public health--particularly the health of our young people--because it will give us the authority to hold the tobacco companies accountable for their actions.

This is also relevant to the next major health bill that we will be dealing with in the Senate which will take the form of comprehensive health reform--health reform that ensures all Americans have good, quality, affordable coverage and, particularly, does so in a way that holds costs down.

I, gratefully, had a chance to meet with the President today at the White House. The President, who has clearly signaled this will be a top priority for him, has now sent the message that history, to a great extent, is going to judge us on our ability to hold down runaway health costs and cut costs for American families.

In my home State alone, $1.1 billion in health care costs are directly attributed to smoking per year, and it costs the Oregon Medicaid Program nearly $287 million per year. Nationwide, $96 billion in health care costs are directly attributed to smoking. This includes $24.7 billion in smoking-caused Medicare expenditures.

There are enormous financial costs specifically associated with people at an early age getting addicted to tobacco use. Then, of course, there is the extraordinary loss of life that comes about as a result of tobacco. According to the Centers for Disease Control, in the United States, over 400,000 deaths each year are directly attributable to tobacco use. The FDA has given the authority to regulate food and prescription drugs, and it certainly makes sense that the FDA regulates tobacco, which is responsible for the death of over 400,000 Americans per year.

The Senate, because of the leadership of Senator Kennedy, has the unique opportunity to reduce the financial and human toll of tobacco. I wished to recount, briefly, that hearing in 1994, because ever since that time, when the tobacco executives said under oath that nicotine wasn't addictive, I have wished to be part of an effort to hold the tobacco companies accountable when they mislead the American people. As a result of the outstanding leadership of Chairman Kennedy, it is possible for the Senate to finally hold these companies accountable by passing this legislation. I hope that Senators on both sides of the aisle will join me and Chairman Kennedy in supporting this long overdue bill.

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