Political Quotes

“this week there was a significant development when it came to public health and our children in America. By way of preface to what I am about to say, I want to make clear that I have, during the course of my service in the House and the Senate, focused a great deal of my efforts on tobacco, the addiction that people have to tobacco cigarettes, and the deadly consequences of that addiction. My family has been touched by it, as most have in America. I lost my father when I was in high school. He smoked two packs a day and was a lung cancer victim. We buried him at the age of 53. I remember it to this day. I am not alone. Literally, thousands of Americans--millions, perhaps--have a similar story to tell. So from the beginning of my service in the House of Representatives, I started looking for ways to deal with this scourge of tobacco cigarette addiction. Many years ago-- over 25 years ago--I introduced a measure that banned smoking on airplanes, and to my great surprise it managed to pass the House of Representatives. Senator Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey was on the Appropriations subcommittee with the responsibility. He took it on in the Senate, passed it, and we made it the law of the land, banning smoking in airplanes. I didn't realize--and I am sure Senator Lautenberg didn't--that we had triggered a tipping point or reaction that led to banning smoking in so many other venues.…”