THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

                    PRESIDENT CLINTON URGES CONGRESS 
            TO "GET THE JOB DONE NOW" TO REDUCE YOUTH SMOKING 
                     AND PASS LEGISLATION THIS WEEK

                              June 15, 1998

Today, President Clinton will call upon the Senate to "get the job done now" and pass tough bipartisan tobacco legislation this week. The McCain bill is a good strong bill that will cut youth smoking in half and save a million lives over the next five years. It has been nearly a year since the state attorneys general's proposed settlement brought comprehensive tobacco legislation to the Congress, and a month since the full Senate began to consider the issue. In the past year, over one million children -- 3,000 a day -- have become regular smokers, and one third will die prematurely as a result. The McCain bill will cut youth smoking in half by:

     Raising the price of cigarettes by $1.10 over the next five 
     years -- the single most important step we can take to reduce 
     youth smoking.

     Imposing tough lookback surcharges on tobacco companies if youth
     smoking does not decline by 67% over the next decade.

     Reaffirming FDA's full authority over tobacco products.

     Launching major nationwide efforts to reduce youth smoking, 
     including a nationwide counteradvertising campaign to warn 
     young people not to smoke, state and local tobacco education 
     and prevention programs, and tough enforcement measures to 
     stop retailers from selling cigarettes to minors.

     Taking other important steps to protect against the dangers 
     of smoking, including expanded warning labels on cigarettes, 
     mandatory disclosure of additives and cigarette ingredients, 
     a nationwide ban on smoking in public buildings, and substantial 
     funding for smoking cessation programs.

     Funding a major increase in health research at the National 
     Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control, 
     including clinical trials for cancer patients.

     The McCain bill started strong . . .  The Administration worked to

secure several important improvements to the bill that passed the Commerce Committee by a margin of 19-1 in April -- including stronger lookback surcharges, stronger environmental tobacco smoke protections, elimination of the antitrust exemption and of liability protection for parent companies, and substantial funding for public health and research as well as for states and tobacco farmers.

. . . and has gotten stronger. The full Senate passed an amendment by Senator Durbin to increase company-specific lookback surcharges still further, and rejected an amendment by Senator Ashcroft to remove the price increase from the bill. The Senate has authorized additional uses for tobacco revenues -- with amendments on veterans health, drug prevention, and targeted tax relief -- while keeping intact the core efforts to reduce youth smoking and protect the public health.