Frank Lautenberg: “last spring, various State attorneys general announced that they had reached a global agreement to settle ongoing State…”

“last spring, various State attorneys general announced that they had reached a global agreement to settle ongoing State lawsuits against the tobacco industry in exchange for certain concessions by the industry aimed at reducing teen smoking. This truly historic agreement followed a persistent effort by President Clinton to empower the Food and Drug Administration to regulate nicotine and develop strategies to stop the addiction of our children to this deadly drug. President Clinton is the first President in our Nation's history to take on the tobacco industry on behalf of the American people and he deserves enormous credit for his bold and relentless leadership on this issue. Since the announcement of the global tobacco settlement, President Clinton, his health advisers, former FDA Commissioner David Kessler, former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, our leading public health groups, and many of us in the Congress have reviewed the proposed settlement. While the attorneys general pushed the industry as hard as they could, they had to make significant compromises along the way to keep the industry at the bargaining table. An examination of their deal with the industry reflects the limits under which they were operating and shows that the settlement is flawed in many respects. The Congress, Mr. President, is in an entirely different position vis-a-vis the tobacco industry.…”