Tom Harkin: “I just wanted to thank the Senator from West Virginia for his addition to this amendment. The Senator from West…”

“I just wanted to thank the Senator from West Virginia for his addition to this amendment. The Senator from West Virginia, as I mentioned earlier, is the leading voice in this Chamber about the dangers of alcohol and alcohol addiction, especially drinking under age. It has become, like tobacco, the scourge of our Nation, especially, as the Senator said, beer drinking among teenagers in college, and that is just a gateway to harder alcohol and other drugs. The Senator from West Virginia has done us a great service because most of the data that we have seen indicate that the teenagers who illegally buy tobacco also illegally buy alcohol. Sometimes we tend to get blinders on around here; we don't see other things, and I would admit freely and openly that I had been focusing on the teenage smoking and had not thought about the other aspects of the teenager who walks in to buy the tobacco. And you can bet your bottom dollar, I say to my friend from West Virginia, that if this girl here--as I said earlier, which one of these is underage--you really cannot tell--Melissa or Amy. This one looks the youngest. She has a pair of overalls on. This one looks older. But it turns out this one is 16 and this one is 25. And you bet your bottom dollar, I ask the Senator from West Virginia, if this one, who is 16, walks in and is successful in buying cigarettes, then the next thing might be, well, as long as she got by with that, how about a six-pack of beer, too.”