Reprinted from The Washington Times , 5am -- April 22, 1998
Tobacco bill motives draw Gingrich's ire
By Mary Ann Akers
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
House Speaker Newt Gingrich said President Clinton's push for a tobacco bill is motivated not by a desire to save children from smoking-related diseases but by a liberal agenda to raise taxes and create bigger government.
For their part, the president and Vice President Al Gore said Mr. Gingrich and other congressional Republicans were simply toeing the line for the tobacco companies and would not dare do anything to hurt their standing with the GOP's biggest political contributors.
The partisan sniping was a clear indication that the political war over tobacco is overshadowing serious efforts to get legislation passed this year.
"This is not a question of who cares about children or who cares [about] stopping lung disease," Mr. Gingrich said. "This is an issue about whether or not liberals deliberately used a passionate, powerful, emotional issue as an excuse for higher taxes, bigger government and more bureaucracy.
"Now, does the president want to stop kids from smoking, or does he want a smokescreen behind which he gets higher taxes, bigger bureaucracy and bigger government?" the Georgia Republican asked.
Mr. Gore accused Republicans of doing exactly as they are told by the tobacco industry, suggesting GOP lawmakers abandoned attempts to pass comprehensive tobacco legislation just as soon as cigarette makers balked at the pending deal two weeks ago.
"Is it a coincidence that immediately after the tobacco industry executives switched signals, called a new play, and publicly announced their opposition to legislation, that right away the Republican leadership switched their signals, adopted a new play and announced their opposition to legislation?" the vice president asked. "I don't think it's a coincidence."
Mr. Gingrich denied that he would allow the tobacco industry to control the Republican agenda and declared he had "as strong an anti-tobacco company position as you've seen in this city."
As the two sides swapped accusations, they also recommended significant changes to comprehensive tobacco legislation pending in the Senate.
Mr. Clinton suggested ways to strengthen several parts of the bill, while Senate GOP leaders joined House Republicans in pushing for a more narrowly tailored measure aimed at stopping teen smoking and drug use.
White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles submitted the president's suggested changes to Sen. John McCain, Arizona Republican, who crafted the Senate bill, during a White House meeting attended by a few other top Clinton aides. The president stopped by the meeting but did not linger to discuss his position.
Mr. McCain declined to specify the proposed changes but said all were negotiable. White House aides have said the president's main goal is to stiffen the penalties imposed on tobacco companies that fail to meet the bill's target to cut teen smoking by 60 percent over 10 years.
Mr. McCain's bill, which would strengthen the agreement reached last June between the tobacco industry and 40 state attorneys general, also has not won the endorsement of the Senate GOP leadership, even though it was approved 19-1 by the Senate Commerce Committee.
Senate GOP leader Trent Lott of Mississippi and Assistant Majority Leader Don Nickles of Oklahoma both indicated yesterday they would rather push a bill that would attack both teen smoking and drug use, much like the package being discussed by House GOP leaders.
"I think we should address teen-age drug abuse as well as teen smoking," Mr. Lott said. Mr. Nickles added, "I personally plan on including an anti-drug component to whatever we do."
House leaders have said they will wait to see what kind of tobacco bill the Senate passes before taking action themselves, but they have also made clear they do not favor the Senate bill. One issue in dispute is the Senate bill's proposed $1.10 per-pack tax increase on cigarettes.
Mr. Gingrich said yesterday he would support a tobacco tax increase, but only as long as the money is used to give tax breaks for health-related costs -- namely for the self-employed -- and not for any new social programs the president wants.
"If the president wants to raise the cost of cigarettes, I'll join him tomorrow and we'll do it, if he is willing to give the money back to the American people," Mr. Gingrich said.
The McCain bill would raise the price of a pack of cigarettes, require tobacco companies to pay $516 billion over 25 years to cover legal costs and anti-smoking initiatives, give the Food and Drug Administration regulatory authority over tobacco and cap annual payments on liability claims.
Despite the obvious opposition, Mr. McCain insisted yesterday a comprehensive bill will pass Congress this year.
"I believe that at the end of the day we will have a bill that attacks effectively kids smoking tobacco," he said. Mr. McCain said Mr. Lott, who has expressed serious skepticism about the prospects, assured him he was committed to getting the legislation approved this election year.
"He told me that he still would like to move a bill forward," Mr. McCain said.
Mr. Gingrich also promised yesterday: "We are going to have a bill."Copyright 1998 News World Communications, Inc.
Reprinted with permission of
The Washington Times.
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