Political Quotes

“I am proud to join the Vice President, Vice President Gore, Senator Conrad, and other colleagues, in support of comprehensive tobacco control legislation. I believe it is time for the Congress to join the President's call to curb teenage smoking. But I believe that as a U.S. Senator, as a Vermonter, and as the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, that the HEALTHY Kids Act improves the proposed national tobacco settlement in two key areas--this is what I am looking at in tobacco settlements--that you have to have full document disclosure and that there can be no immunity for the tobacco industry. The reason I say this, Madam President, is I have here a 1974 marketing plan by RJR Tobacco. In 1974 they were saying how they have to target the 14-to-24 age group. In 1974 they were saying how they had to put their ads together so that people in the 14-to-24-year-old group could be targeted, could become cigarette smokers, could become addicted, and once addicted would remain their customers until they died. Of course, so many of them did die of lung cancer and other tobacco-related diseases. These documents became public almost a quarter of a century later only because of the suits that are going on, only because of the forced disclosure. I say whatever we do in tobacco legislation, make sure all documents have to be disclosed and make sure that there is no immunity to the tobacco industry.”