On the Motion (DeWine Amdt. No. 3563) - To protect the public health by providing the Food and Drug Administration with certain authority to regulate tobacco products, to eliminate the Federal quota and price support programs for tobacco, and to provide assistance to quota holders, tobacco producers, and tobacco-dependent communities.

Constitutional Vote: No

Vote Date: July 15, 2004

FDA Regulation of Tobacco. During consideration of a corporate tax bill (H.R. 4520), Sen. Mike DeWine (R-Ohio) offered an amendment to authorize the FDA to regulate tobacco for the first time and to couple this new regulation with a $12 billion, 10-year buyout to pay tobacco farmers for relinquishing government quotas governing how much tobacco they can grow. The FDA would be authorized to ban many ingredients in cigarettes, but Congress would retain veto power over any regulatory attempt to ban nicotine in cigarettes or to ban cigarettes completely.

The Senate adopted DeWine’s amendment on July 15, 2004 by a vote of 78 to 15 (Roll Call 157). We have assigned pluses to the nays because the FDA should not be regulating tobacco like a pharmaceutical drug.