Frank Lautenberg: “today I am joining Senators Kennedy and Durbin in introducing the Healthy and Smoke-free Children Act of 1997. Likewise…”

“today I am joining Senators Kennedy and Durbin in introducing the Healthy and Smoke-free Children Act of 1997. Likewise, Senators Kennedy and Durbin are cosponsoring legislation I introduced last week, the Public Health and Education Resource Act, S. 1343, or PHAER. As we join forces behind comprehensive tobacco legislation to reduce smoking, especially among our young people, and to enhance the public health, we urge Senators of both parties to unify behind our approach. It is a simple and straightforward but effective model for drastically reducing the 400,000 preventable deaths each year in our country caused by a deadly addiction to nicotine. Mr. President, it's time for Congress to act. We have the legislative packages to get started. The message we are sending out today is clear: the goal of comprehensive tobacco legislation is to prevent kids from becoming hooked on tobacco--not to get the tobacco companies off the hook. Our legislation would raise the price of cigarettes by $1.50 per pack in order to reduce teen smoking and fund critical public health programs. It explicitly prohibits the industry from deducting the cost of increased excise taxes from its corporate tax payments. With the proceeds of the tax, states will receive back funds for public health and children's programs, including health, education, and smoking cessation programs aimed at both children, teenagers, and adults.”