Duncan Faircloth: “the McCain bill is dead, and I say good riddance. It was nothing more than a massive tax increase on working Americans…”

“the McCain bill is dead, and I say good riddance. It was nothing more than a massive tax increase on working Americans to fund an expansion of the Federal government. However, I suspect that we will revisit the tobacco issue, and I want to ensure that my colleagues remain aware of a critical issue to the people of my State. I'm talking about thousands of tobacco farm families. These are people who depend on tobacco farming for their livelihood and who share a long and proud heritage. Mr. President, my farmers are hurting, and we're losing more and more of them every year. The tobacco quota continues to drop, but not their credit payments, so they're getting squeezed to the limits. Some of them are well past their limits and were forced off their farms. I believe that we will face the tobacco issue again next year. Certainly, whether or not we do a small and far less expensive youth access bill without a tax increase at the end of this year, we will return to the so-called tobacco settlement next year. If we return to this bill next year--not in a politically charged atmosphere just five months from Election Day--it will be far easier to manage this process and to come up with a reasonable bill that addresses the needs of all parties. That means farmers, and that is a critical point, because they are the folks on the front line and under fire in this war on tobacco.”