Letter to Senators Bill Frist and Tom Daschle
July 7, 2004
The Honorable Bill Frist
Senate Majority Leader
U.S. Capitol, Room S-230
Washington, D.C. 20510
The Honorable Tom Daschle
Senate Minority Leader
U.S. Capitol, Room S-221
Washington, D.C. 20510
Dear Senator Frist and Senator Daschle:
We are writing out of concern for the tobacco buyout provision that was included in the House foreign sales corporation / extraterritorial income tax (FSC/ETI) bill because it does not include effective Food and Drug Administration (FDA) oversight of how tobacco products are manufactured, marketed and sold. The five-year, $9.6 billion tobacco buyout provision is not only worse for tobacco growers than pending legislation in the Senate, but it does nothing to protect public health and to reduce tobacco's tremendous toll in health, lives and money. If a tobacco buyout plan moves forward, we cannot support any proposal that does not also include meaningful and effective FDA oversight of tobacco.
We believe there is a better way to both protect public health and help tobacco growers by passing legislation that will give meaningful and effective FDA authority over tobacco products and a responsible tobacco buyout paid by tobacco companies, not the taxpayers.
Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States. With more than 440,000 deaths per year related to smoking and approximately 4,000 children under age 18 who will try smoking for the first time every day, the Senate must not let the opportunity to pass FDA regulation of tobacco go by. Public and private health care spending on smoking in the U.S. totals an astonishing $75 billion annually.
We hope that we can work with you to ensure that any proposal that includes a tobacco buyout also contains meaningful and effective FDA oversight of how tobacco products are manufactured, marketed and sold. Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Dianne Feinstein
Tom Carper
Dick Durbin
Frank Lautenberg
Joseph Lieberman
Patty Murray
Debbie Stabenow
Ron Wyden