Pete Domenici: “Thirty, forty, sixty cents, you go to the Finance Committee. You are a distinguished member. You sit very, very high up…”

“Thirty, forty, sixty cents, you go to the Finance Committee. You are a distinguished member. You sit very, very high up in seniority on that Finance Committee. There is nothing in this budget agreement--nothing--that says you cannot try to raise cigarette taxes in that committee. You just propose it. You can raise cigarette taxes right there in that committee. You do not need very many votes. There is nothing that precludes you from it. Let me tell you, the irony of it all is that if the Kennedy-Hatch amendment passes, you will have the exact same difficulty getting the cigarette tax through as if you did not have this thing, because there is nothing in this amendment that you propose here today that says the Finance Committee of the United States is bound to vote in a cigarette tax--nothing. I said once--I will say it again--cigarette taxes are not mentioned in the amendment. The distinguished Senator from Massachusetts got up and said, we have drawn it like amendments have been drawn forever. You are right. And the interpretation and the efficacy is as it has exactly been forever. That foreverness has meant it is not binding, it is not binding on anyone. To the extent that you want to put a statement with this, it is hortatory. It is giving your views and talking to the American people about what you would like to see happen. But it is not binding, never has been binding. We have never had this kind of situation where you could make it binding.”