Lott suggests switch from sweeping tobacco bill to narrower measure

Lott suggests switch from sweeping tobacco bill to narrower measure

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WASHINGTON (June 8, 1998 9:56 p.m. EDT http://www.nando.net) -- Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott suggested canceling debate on the troubled tobacco bill and moving instead to a narrower measure that would combat teen smoking and drug use.

"This bill has lost control. It's just a spending bill. It's lost its focus and it should be pulled," Lott said Monday of the measure by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. "I would like to see us have a bill that does deal only with teen-age smoking and drug abuse."

However, said the Mississippi Republican, it was too early to pursue that alternative.

A key test for the tobacco bill will come Tuesday, Lott said, when the Senate considers a Republican amendment that would dedicate to the fight against teen drug use some of the $516 billion to be raised by McCain's bill. He said he will see whether Democrats cooperate by allowing a vote on the amendment.

"We've tried the cooperation route," responded Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., who vowed to keep the issue alive either by fighting Lott's motion to move to other bills or by trying to add tobacco language to every bill that comes to the floor.

"We'll see to it that it's not dead," Daschle said of the McCain bill. Although McCain is a Republican, most conservative lawmakers oppose the measure.

McCain's bill would charge tobacco companies $516 billion over 25 years, raise cigarette taxes by $1.10 over five years and expand the authority of the Food and Drug Administration. Republicans want to make the bill more palatable by adding an amendment that would dedicate some of that money to tax cuts, while Democrats are fighting for a more modest reduction.

Relations between Senate Republicans and Democrats dissolved into partisan sniping last week, when the leaders could not agree on how the bill should proceed. The first of two Democratic motions to limit debate and bring the McCain bill to a vote is set for a vote Tuesday, though it is not expected to garner the 60 votes required.

Lott and Daschle on Monday moved beyond the bill to election-year finger-pointing for the lack of action.

Democrats say Republicans let the bill wither because tobacco companies that have long favored the GOP have rejected it.

"I think they'll do anything they can to oppose tobacco legislation," said Daschle. "I don't think there's any question that the investment that the tobacco companies have made in the political system over the last several years has paid off."

Republicans say they are stopping a bill that would raise taxes on cigarettes and expand the government by giving the FDA new authority.

"This bill has become nothing more than a budget-busting spending bill, instead of trying to keep a focus on dealing with the problems caused by smoking," Lott said.

Tuesday's amendment, by Sen. Paul Coverdell, R-Ga., would dedicate $16 billion over five years to such things as drug interdiction and vouchers that would let students who have been victims of drug-related crimes switch schools.

By LAURIE KELLMAN, Associated Press Writer