House Blocks FDA Oversight of Tobacco

[Khephra]

GOP Leaders Engineer Move; Result Is Seen as Setback for Health Care Groups

By Dan Morgan and Helen Dewar
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, October 12, 2004; Page A04

When the Senate voted 78 to 15 in July to give the Food and Drug Administration the power to regulate cigarettes, it seemed that health advocates were on the verge of a major legislative coup.

The Senate amendment was attached to a massive, "must pass" corporate tax bill that Republicans in both houses badly wanted. Supporters strengthened their hand by coupling FDA regulation with a House proposal for a multibillion-dollar buyout of struggling tobacco farmers.

But in the end, a strong-willed group of Republicans in the House outmaneuvered Senate negotiators and pushed through a tax bill that gives corporations billions of dollars in new breaks, and preserves a $10 billion buyout of tobacco farmers, but leaves FDA regulation of cigarettes on the cutting-room floor for this session of Congress.

"We were blocked by a small minority in the House leadership," said Vince Willmore, director of communications for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A24429-2004Oct11.html