McCain Confident Despite Attacks On Tobacco Bill

WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, April 5) -- The tobacco bill shepherded through the Senate Commerce Committee last week by Sen. John McCain is being attacked by anti-smoking forces as not tough enough and by the tobacco industry as overly punitive.

Sunday, McCain, the Arizona Republican who chairs the committee, said he's been "somewhat confused and a little amused" by the wide-ranging criticism. But he said he believes the dual attacks are a sign that his proposal, which passed the committee with just one dissenting vote, is on the right track.

"We're in pretty much the right spot if we're being attacked from both sides," McCain said on CNN's "Late Edition."

"I think we proved last week that we can get Republicans and Democrats together to form a bipartisan package, working with the (Clinton) administration, the public health groups and the attorneys general, and come up with something that is very viable, that will attack the problem (of underage smoking)," McCain said.

The bill, co-sponsored by McCain and Sen. Ernest Hollings (D-S.C.), would require tobacco companies to pay $516 billion over the next 25 years and would raise the price of a pack of cigarettes by $1.10 over five years. It would also allow the Food and Drug Administration to regulate nicotine levels in tobacco products.

McCain

While the legislation would cap tobacco companies' liability for punitive damages to smokers at $6.5 billion a year, it would also penalize them financially if they fail to meet targets for reducing teen smoking.

The bill would require tobacco companies to pay nearly $150 billion more than they agreed to pay under a settlement hammered out last year between the industry and attorneys general of more than 30 states, which have sued to recover the medical costs for smoking-related illnesses.

Some tobacco industry officials have said that if McCain's bill passes, they will fight it in court. But McCain said Sunday that tobacco companies should realize that the bill is in their long-term best interests and that "their options ... are not very good."

"I hope that they can live with it. I hope that we're able to get an agreement from them," McCain said. "But I guarantee it, if we can't, they are facing years and years of litigation and court cases, many of which they are losing to the tunes of billions and billions of dollars.

"The American people will not sit still for a continuing problem of 3,000 kids, teen-agers, starting smoking every day, a thousand of whom will die early because of tobacco-related illness."

McCain said he was "confident" that a tobacco settlement bill would pass this year. He also said that despite perceptions that his bill will face strong opposition within his own party, Republicans are "solidly behind" an effort to reach a tobacco agreement.

However, McCain said he does expect fights over White House proposals to use tobacco settlement money for new programs and over how much attorneys involved in tobacco litigation will be paid.

"Those are going to be two very big and contentious issues. But they have nothing to do with the fundamental framework of the agreement that we've reached," McCain said.

This week, President Bill Clinton is scheduled to travel to Kentucky to meet with tobacco farmers. The trip is designed to reassure farmers that any national tobacco legislation will be designed to protect them.

Sunday April 5, 1998

• Clinton: 'Mixed Feelings' On Jones Case Dismissal
• McCain Confident Despite Attacks On Tobacco Bill