WASHINGTON — Bipartisan teams of lawmakers in both the House and Senate have offered legislation to grant the Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate tobacco products.
The Supreme Court two weeks ago struck down FDA authority to regulate tobacco, saying it was up to Congress to specifically give the agency such authority.
In the House, Democrat John Dingell of Michigan and Republican Greg Ganske of Iowa offered a bill Thursday that would let the FDA regulate nicotine and tobacco. Their bill was much narrower than the 1998 comprehensive tobacco legislation that failed in the Senate and did not address such issues as tobacco prices.
In the Senate, Iowa Democrat Tom Harkin, Florida Democrat Bob Graham, and Rhode Island Republican Lincoln Chafee unveiled their version of the bill Wednesday.
"We feel it is absolutely critical to show bipartisan support for picking up the ball the Supreme Court dropped in our lap just two weeks ago," Harkin said.
Although these bills do have some bipartisan support, it remains far from certain that either the House or Senate will act before the November elections. Congressional Republican leaders have not expressed support for taking up tobacco legislation this year, and some have been openly critical of the FDA.
The last big push to get comprehensive federal tobacco legislation enacted collapsed in 1998. Since then, states have settled their lawsuits and plan to use at least a portion of the money to combat teen smoking. The tobacco industry is also facing lawsuits on numerous fronts.
The Supreme Court ruling in March was a stinging rebuke to President Clinton's high-profile effort to curb youth smoking. About 3,000 young people start smoking in the United States each day, and about one-third of them will eventually die prematurely from tobacco-related disease.
But Philip Morris has said it is open to accepting some degree of FDA regulation, and congressional sources have said the tobacco giant has started to reach out to talk to some lawmakers in both parties.