John Kerry: “I talked earlier about the impact on working people of not having this increase. But we heard quoted during the course…”

“I talked earlier about the impact on working people of not having this increase. But we heard quoted during the course of the monolog this morning a statement by the CBO. I would like to put in the Record the ``Congressional Budget Office Proposed Tobacco Settlement,'' a statement of April 1998, in which they say: Based on a review of the empirical evidence, CBO concludes that price increases would have a significant negative effect on consumers' demand for cigarettes and, depending on the ultimate increase in price, could be a highly effective way of reducing smoking in the United States. That is the Congressional Budget Office. Every single independent analysis--and I am talking independent analysis, not hidden analyses that are really one of the tobacco companies under some pseudonym. We are talking about the health experts of America, the people who do these under peer-reviewed and appropriate methods of independent study. They all suggest if you raise that price you will reduce teen smoking. I think every parent in America understands it. Every kid in America understands it. It is fundamental common sense as well as economics.”