Political Quotes

“it started sounding too familiar to me. For a long time on Capitol Hill, I have been involved in public policy debates about Big Tobacco, about nicotine and cigarettes, and about the public health consequences of smoking. It is a personal issue, of course, for me and for so many of us. Our families have been touched by tobacco-related disease and death. I lost my father to lung cancer. He was 53 years old. He smoked two packs of Camels a day. I stood by his bedside when I was just a high school student and saw what tobacco could do. When I was elected to Congress, I decided to try to take on Big Tobacco. It was not an easy task. Those in Big Tobacco had very many friends in high places, and they made it clear in both political parties in the House of Representatives that tobacco was untouchable. I offered an amendment, quite a few years ago now, to ban smoking on airplanes. It was really because of my irritation and strong feelings that the people who were on the plane who were nonsmokers shouldn't have to breathe in secondhand smoke. To my surprise, we passed it in the House by a handful of votes even though the leadership of both political parties opposed it. Then it came over here, and Senator Frank Lautenberg, of New Jersey, passed it as well. It became the law of the land.…”