SMOKE FILLS THE U.S. SENATE

A year ago this week, the grand agreement between the tobacco industry,
public-health advocates and the states was announced with the prospect that
it would be a landmark in the public health of America.

The $368.5 billion settlement had some serious problems. But, to their
credit, the negotiators at least had kept their focus on the real issue:
efforts to reduce teen smoking.

It is difficult even to find teen smoking in the behemoth tobacco bill that
is creaking forward in the U.S. Senate. The weight now piled onto what was a
dubious bill to begin with threatens to crush the effort.

The Senate bill would raise the cigarette tax to $1.10 a pack, raising $516
billion over 25 years. Among the ways the Senate has agreed to spend this
largess are:

- - Reducing taxes for married couples with incomes of less than $50,000 who
file joint tax returns. Some couples pay more than they would if they were
single, other couples pay less. But they'd all get a tax break from this.
And what does this have to do with public health and tobacco?

- - Providing an added tax benefit so self-employed people can deduct the full
cost of their health insurance premiums.

- - Requiring the states to spend some of their tobacco money on child-care
programs.

- - Fighting drug abuse.

There are other provisions that defy common sense. The U.S. government still
spends billions a year to prop up the price of tobacco to benefit those who
grow it, and it appears that any tobacco settlement will keep the subsidy
program going.

Then there are the private lawyers who brought suits against the tobacco
companies or were hired by the states to assist in their claims. Their fate
has consumed nearly as much Senate attention as the thousands of kids who
start smoking every year. A proposal to cap the attorneys' fees at $1,000 an
hour failed in the Senate, guaranteeing that they will profit handsomely
from any settlement.

All of this amounts to a bloated legislative package that has lost sight of
its original intentions.

Congress has wasted the opportunity to make progress on a critically
important public health issue, teenage smoking. The tobacco deal might as
well be declared dead.

Checked-by: Melodi Cornett