Congress Hypocrital on Cigarettes

Do they want to ban them, or promote them? If there's any issue in which Congress is abolutely schizophrenic it's cigarettes. They say they want to ban them, and yet they base the funding for all their latest socialized medicine schemes on cigarette taxes, which by its very nature requires more smokers.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Congress is taking new whacks at the cigarette industry, banning tobacco sales in Senate buildings and - more importantly - seeking a significant federal tax increase on cigarettes.

The industry, once a lobbying behemoth, is quietly working against the tax bill. But it lacks the clout it once wielded.

Several key lawmakers said they have had no recent contacts with tobacco lobbyists. And both houses have signaled a willingness to raise the cigarette tax if other provisions of a children's health bill can be resolved.

"I think the industry has tried to do things more quietly, largely because they obviously know how popular a tobacco tax is," said Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA. The health advocacy group supports a proposed $35 billion increase in the State Children's Health Insurance Program, which a higher cigarette tax would finance.

House and Senate negotiators are trying to craft a veto-proof version of the bill. President Bush says he would veto it because it calls for a 61 cents-per-pack increase in the federal excise tax on cigarettes, taking it to $1.

I don't like smoking and I don't like being anywhere near it, but it's still a legal product. If Congress really wants to do what's right by citizen's health they should just ban them. Congress isn't shy about jumping into every other area of health care, so what's the problem with eliminating a product whose use is guaranteed harmful? They get all exercised by Chinese toys with a hint of lead that probably cause no harm to the vast majority of kids who contact them, but tiptoe around a product that's proven deadly to millions.

That ban them, however, because the tobacco lobby is a significant contributor to political campaigns, and to ban smoking would cut the federal government off from billions in taxes it collects every year to fund its pet projects.