Committee Takes up Tobacco Rules

Source from:  inrich.com Wednesday, Jul 25, 2007 07/26/2007

A Senate panel began work today on proposed new authority for the federal Food and Drug Administration to regulate tobacco sales and marketing in order to curb youth smoking. The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee began weighing amendments but did not finish work on the bill sponsored by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass. before pausing, to resume tomorrow. "We're going to get the bill" approved by the committee, "as sure as I'm sitting here," a confident Kennedy, the panel's chairman, said afterward. Critics contended it didn't make sense to load the under-funded FDA with a new mission to regulate tobacco. They also questioned a 2.5 cents-per-cigarette-pack "user fee" that would be imposed to pay for the new FDA regulation. Critics asked whether separate legislation, to expand children's health insurance programs with help from a 61-cent-per-pack cigarette excise tax increase, might be affected adversely by imposing the 2.5-cent "user fee." An amendment proposed by a Republican, to study the level of funding needed for the FDA program, was derided by bill backers as unnecessary and delaying its effective start and was defeated on a 12-9 vote. Enditem