Political Quotes

“what we have at stake here is that the Federal Government is dealing with the wrong issue at the wrong time. It is time for the Federal Government to move on. The way in which the Federal Government should move on is by pursuing its own litigation against the tobacco industry rather than trying to steal a portion of the State settlement. I was, therefore, very pleased that the President, in his State of the Union Message, indicated that it was the intention of the Federal Government to pursue precisely such a course of action. Let me say, Mr. President, that for those of us, like Senator Harkin and others, who joined last year in an effort to craft a bipartisan tobacco bill, we recognize that the most significant way in which we will reduce teenage smoking is to increase the price of cigarettes. Every other technique to reduce teenage smoking pales in comparison with increasing the price. The Centers for Disease Control has estimated that for every 10-percent increase in the price of cigarettes, there will be a 7-percent reduction in smoking by teenagers. The Federal Government's potential claims against the tobacco industry are much greater than the States. The Medicare Program is much larger than Medicaid. The Federal Government has all the array of antitrust and RICO claims which the States so successfully pursued.”