Don Nickles: “Now, are we going to pass that? I know I saw an ad by Dr. Koop saying we need to. I love Dr. Koop. I know he is very…”

“Now, are we going to pass that? I know I saw an ad by Dr. Koop saying we need to. I love Dr. Koop. I know he is very sincere. But I don't think you have to spend hundreds of billions of dollars to go after teenage consumption of tobacco or of drugs. And I think we should go after both. I think we would be grossly irresponsible if we don't go after both. I am concerned about the cost of this bill. I told my friend and colleague from Arizona that I have the greatest respect for him but I don't have great respect for this bill. I think this bill is one of the worst pieces of legislation that Congress has considered since the health care dictates of the President and Mrs. Clinton several years ago. That bothers me. I don't think we should pass it in the Senate. I told my colleagues I am not going to just stand back and throw rocks at it. I will try to make some improvements. I read a list of the sections, and I don't think there should be an asbestos section. I may have an amendment to delete it. I don't think we should have the massive industry payment system. I am going to try to talk my colleagues into replacing it with a simple excise tax. Raise it $1.10, so you know exactly the amount. I am not comfortable with the fact that some people are saying it is $1.10, but it raises more money than that, so maybe they will have more money to spend.”