Rod Grams: “Just to finish, Mr. President, we are talking about the tobacco bill and addiction. And I just say, let us forget about…”

“Just to finish, Mr. President, we are talking about the tobacco bill and addiction. And I just say, let us forget about the figures and rhetoric for a moment that is surrounding this bill and ask the more important question: Why are we persecuting these people because of an addiction? Now again, if someone is addicted to alcohol, are we going to increase taxes on them? If someone is addicted to drugs, are we going to go out and increases taxes on them? Of course not, because we give them all sorts of Government benefits amounting to thousands of dollars a year if they are addicted to alcohol or other illegal drugs. But if you are addicted to nicotine, Congress wants to tax you as much as $1,400 a year. And I believe it simply does not make sense. It also does not make sense for us to be discussing this legislation as if it were a tobacco settlement. This is not a tobacco settlement. It is a tax increase to pay for increased Government spending programs. Supporters of this tax increase assert that if you vote against this bill, you are for big tobacco--if you vote against this bill, you are for big tobacco--if you vote for it, you are compassionate and you are taking a stand for the health of our children. But this isn't really about our children, is it? It is about lining Washington's coffers with more taxpayer dollars. Let us talk about the statistic that 3,000 kids start smoking every day.…”