Showdown Lkely on Leaf-Buyout Plan

Source from:  BY PETER HARDIN TIMES-DISPATCH WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT 06/17/2004

The House is poised to act, but ultimate outcome is uncertain WASHINGTON - The House of Representatives is poised to take up a $9.6 billion proposal this week to pay farmers for getting out of the federal tobacco program, a bid that had little life until recently. President Bush's remark last month that the federal quota program did not need to be changed drew wrath from tobacco farmers and sparked pressures that contributed to a changed political landscape. The House Ways and Means Committee voted 27-9 on Monday night to send to the House floor a corporate tax-overhaul package with sweeteners. One was the proposal to end the Depression-era program that limits tobacco production and boosts prices, and to pay farmers to quit the program. Gregory Jenner, a Treasury Department official, testified before the panel on Monday that "the administration is open to a tobacco buyout as long as it ends all aspects of the tobacco program." His statement reflected a major departure from Bush's earlier remark. The White House has come under pressure from tobacco-state lawmakers to support a buyout, and Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry has voiced support for a buyout combined with new federal Food and Drug Administration regulation of tobacco manufacturing. Rep. Eric I. Cantor, R-7th and a member of the Ways and Means Committee, voted in favor of the corporate tax-overhaul package on Monday. He said that if the House passes the buyout, it will represent "a real first" and "a lot of progress" for tobacco-growing districts. As chief deputy Republican whip and coming from Virginia, Cantor has become the House GOP point man on tobacco. He has been working to nail down support for the tax overhaul, and it "looks good" for the bill, which may be taken up Friday, Cantor said. He was guarded in predicting the ultimate outcome of the buyout proposal. To become law, a bill must be passed by the House and the Senate and be signed by the president. A Senate-passed version of the corporate tax overhaul does not contain a tobacco buyout. Some senators have insisted that for a buyout to pass, it must be combined with FDA authority over tobacco manufacturing. If the House adopts the tax rewrite bill with the buyout attached, tobacco could loom large when negotiators attempt to reconcile the bills' differences. "There will certainly be a showdown" if the buyout wins House passage, Cantor said. Yesterday, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, renewed his anti-FDA regulation stance: "I strongly oppose FDA regulating a legitimate product made by legitimate manufacturers in the United States," he said. Enditem