Lott Suggests Halting Tobacco Bill Debate

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 of the measure by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) that would charge companies $516 billion over 25 years and hike cigarette taxes by $1.10 over five years. “I would like to see us have a bill that does deal only with teenage smoking and drug abuse.” However, the Mississippi Republican said it was too early to pursue that alternative. A key test for the tobacco bill will come today, Lott said, when the Senate considers a Republican amendment that would dedicate some of the billions to be raised by McCain’s bill to the fight against teen drug use.