Tobacco Legislation


Sen. Chuck Grassley today voted to significantly toughen anti-tobacco legislation making its way through the United States Senate. Grassley participated in Finance Committee consideration of a bill to direct spending of money collected by increasing the price of cigarettes by $1.50-a-pack over three years. A comment from Sen. Grassley regarding the committee's proposal, which will now go to the full Senate for debate, follows. Sen. Grassley said he will work to include in the Senate bill full tax-deductibility of health insurance for the self-employed and for those who do not receive health insurance from their employer.

"Congress should not miss this important opportunity to curb tobacco use by minors. My goals in the legislative process are to help eliminate youth smoking, educate all Americans about the dangers of tobacco use and crack down on the tobacco companies. The language approved by the Finance Committee today sets the stage for the Senate to develop a proposal that works toward these goals and contains punitive measures against the tobacco companies. It was wrong for the industry to market to minors and mislead Congress and the public. The unprincipled behavior endangered the public health and has had an impact on our health care delivery systems."