Jack Reed: “Thank you, Mr. President. I strongly support the amendment proposed by Senator Conrad, Senator Lautenberg, and my…”

“Thank you, Mr. President. I strongly support the amendment proposed by Senator Conrad, Senator Lautenberg, and my colleagues. The budget resolution before us today does not give us a fighting chance to do what we want to do, but more importantly, what the American people want us to do. That is to reduce teenage smoking in the United States. We know it is a curse. We know it is causing incalculable pain throughout this country in terms of health problems down the road. But this budget resolution does not give us the tools to grapple with the issue of teen smoking. It is illogical, too, as Senator Conrad pointed out so eloquently. All of the major legislative initiatives have specific provisions which require anti-youth-smoking efforts, increased research at the National Institutes of Health, FDA regulatory authority, State regulatory authority, and none of these can be funded from the budget resolution. But there is something that is even more illogical, in my view. I do not want to take a brief for the tobacco industry. But with every one of these major pieces of legislation for the tobacco industry, you must reduce teen smoking by 50 percent, 60 percent, or 70 percent in so many years.”