Chuck Grassley: “I rise in support of the Coverdell amendment. I sincerely hope that the Senate will adopt this important amendment. I…”

“I rise in support of the Coverdell amendment. I sincerely hope that the Senate will adopt this important amendment. I think the main concern on this side of the aisle is not about the importance of an antitobacco campaign and an education program so teenagers will not smoke in the first place. This is very important, and it should be well funded. But money above and beyond that ought to go into fully funding existing programs rather than creating a whole new scheme of programs. Creating new Federal programs is a goal of this administration. It is important that we not just create the programs for their sake, but that we make sure that it is used wisely. There will be a lot of new revenue generated by this bill and we must not use it all to create new Federal programs. We cannot put an obligation on the people of this country to support programs that we do not know, down the line, how much they are going to cost, just because there is a big new bonanza of money available. The purpose of this legislation is to keep teenagers from starting to smoke in the first place. This must remain our focal point. This is one important reason that I support the Coverdell amendment, because it will put excess money into existing programs and not create a whole new list of programs. Another is that this amendment will combat illegal drug use--which also kills our children. We should not address one without addressing the other.”