Orrin Hatch: “this morning we started the first of a series of hearings in the Judiciary Committee on the tobacco global settlement. I…”

“this morning we started the first of a series of hearings in the Judiciary Committee on the tobacco global settlement. I have to say that the funding for this $8 billion, as well as a number of other provisions that will be in the tax bill, happens to come from the 20-cent-per-pack tax on cigarettes. The reason that Senator Kennedy and I originally put into our original bill a 43-cent tax on cigarettes is because tobacco is the number one preventable cause of death in this country today. It is particularly important in this instance because of these 10 million children who are without health insurance, 5 million of them it is estimated will ultimately wind up smoking if we do not find some way to make smoking less attractive for them. It is also a proven fact that every time smoking goes up 10 percent in cost that 7 percent of these kids will never attempt to smoke, which is a very wise thing here. It is a spinoff benefit that we get in adding the cigarette tax. I might also add that 50 percent of all smokers began before the age of 14, and 90 percent began before the age of 18. So this particular amendment and this particular aspect of this particular bill has many, many good reasons for its adoption.”