Angie Craig: “I am pleased that the time has come for the Senate to begin debate on a portion of the legislation before us that I…”

“I am pleased that the time has come for the Senate to begin debate on a portion of the legislation before us that I think, if accepted by this body, will be the most significant thing that we can possibly do. Mr. President, even before the bill before us was brought to the floor of the Senate, the question of tobacco has been, for many months, one of the major issues of public debate, if not the major issue in some quarters. The Clinton administration, in particular, has crusaded for legislation supposedly aimed at preventing America's teens from taking up a deadly habit, arguing that the need for this legislation is so strong that questions of cost and constitutionality, or the ordering of social priorities, are left by the wayside. Even raising such questions is to invite the accusation of being a tool of the big tobacco companies. How dare you stand in the way of this legislation. Not long ago, Mr. President, I was in Idaho speaking to a group of high school students. This was just as the tobacco issue was starting to break out at the top of most news stories. I asked these kids what the biggest problem facing them and their peers was and what that problem was doing to their lives. When I mentioned tobacco, I'll be honest with you, I was a bit surprised. I was surprised that a lot of hands didn't go up because that is what the media had been talking about, what the front pages were telling us. In fact, Mr. President, only a few hands went up.”