Kent Conrad: “I am coming to the floor this morning to address the question of national tobacco policy. I was asked last year by the…”

“I am coming to the floor this morning to address the question of national tobacco policy. I was asked last year by the Democratic leadership to chair the Senate Democratic task force on tobacco legislation. Today, we have 31 cosponsors of our bill called the HEALTHY Kids Act. The purpose of this legislation is, first of all, to reduce teen smoking, because we believe that is the overarching priority, and to protect the public health. The HEALTHY Kids Act represents responsible tobacco policy. As I have said, it protects children; it promotes the public health; it helps tobacco farmers who are completely left out of the proposed settlement. It resolves Federal, State, and local claims against the tobacco industry. It invests in children and health care, and it provides savings for Social Security and Medicare, and it reimburses taxpayers for the costs that were imposed on them by the use of these tobacco products. Importantly, the HEALTHY Kids Act also does not provide special protection to the tobacco industry.”