Clinton to Lead March on Anti-Tobacco Road

With some of his top budget proposals in growing jeopardy, President Clinton begins an aggressive push today to overhaul the nation’s tobacco policies, which could net him $65.5 billion for new programs.

The president is expected to use his weekly radio address to urge Congress to pass major tobacco reforms that would raise the per-pack price of cigarettes significantly and pressure tobacco firms not to market to children. Clinton also plans to call for such sweeping anti-tobacco legislation next week in speeches to the American Medical Assn. and state attorneys general.

His push comes as Senate Republicans are confronting the many differences among members of their party over how to regulate the tobacco industry. In the face of these conflicts, the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee announced Friday that it is postponing action on legislation for at least two weeks.

Clinton’s message will be reinforced by other administration officials, including Vice President Al Gore--a fact that makes some GOP lawmakers wary, given Gore’s expected bid for the presidency in 2000.

“We’re getting down to the crunch now, and we need to move ahead on tobacco legislation,” said Mike McCurry, the White House press secretary. “There are not that many days that the Congress plans to be in session this year--and they need to get moving.”

The White House push is dictated in part by an unusually short congressional calendar. There are only about 70 working days left before lawmakers leave town to focus on the 1998 campaign season, which could make it unusually difficult to pass legislation as controversial and complex as an overhaul of tobacco policy.

Beyond that, Clinton’s new spending initiatives are tied to passage of tobacco legislation, since it would significantly increase federal tobacco taxes. (The president has said that any budget surplus should be off limits for new spending, pending a long-term deal on Social Security.)

Under Clinton’s budget proposal, the tobacco tax would provide $65.5 billion that would be spent to make child care more affordable for lower-income families, help states reduce the number of pupils per teacher and help make health care available to more poor children.

A White House official insisted on Friday that the decision to launch a highly visible public effort to push through tobacco legislation had not been motivated by budgetary concerns.

“The primary goal here is to reduce youth smoking,” said Elena Kagan, deputy director of domestic policy. “This is the priority for the president.” She added that Clinton wants tobacco legislation to pass Congress “for that reason and that reason alone.”

Budget analysts do not impugn Clinton’s public health motives but do point out that much of his domestic program would have to shrink--or even disappear--if the tobacco legislation fails to pass Congress.

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“If he doesn’t get the tobacco money, he’s got to rethink his budget,” said Charles Schultze, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution think tank and chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors during President Carter’s administration. “Obviously, if he doesn’t get the tobacco money, he has to either cut other programs to fund the new programs he wants or he’ll have to give them up.”

The estimated $65.5 billion that the proposed tobacco legislation would generate would come largely from tax increase on cigarettes, which administration officials and anti-smoking advocates say would discourage young people from picking up the habit.

Federal officials and lawmakers have been grappling with how to revamp tobacco policies since a sweeping deal was proposed last June between the tobacco industry and a group of state attorneys general. Under the deal--key parts of which require congressional approval--the industry would pay $368 billion over 25 years and agree to ban most advertising. In exchange, the industry would get protection from many types of lawsuits.

This condition, as well as other aspects of the accord, have proved controversial in Congress, making endorsement of a comprehensive deal elusive. In the House, neither party has introduced a draft bill, nor has any bipartisan legislation been unveiled. It is widely believed that only a bipartisan bill would have any chance of success.

In the Senate, several committees are working on pieces of the legislation. On Wednesday, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who chairs the Senate Commerce Committee, was anointed by the GOP leadership as the lead player on the legislation, largely because his panel has jurisdiction over such issues as tobacco advertising and legal protections for the tobacco industry.

A bipartisan bill is in the works on the Senate side but has yet to be introduced and so far has won the support of just three senators.

Republicans in both chambers are split between those who believe that the time has come for stringent regulation of the tobacco industry and those who remain leery of giving the government too much power to regulate business.

Initially, GOP critics complained that the administration was murky on the details of reform and had failed to commit itself to specific legislative proposals. More recently, however, White House officials have begun meeting intensively with some key Republicans on the issue. But the two sides still suspect each others’ motives.

“The White House needs to make a key decision about whether this is politics or a legacy issue, and how they behave next week will be a key sign to congressional Republicans,” said Eric Ueland, deputy chief of staff to Sen. Don Nickles (R-Okla.), the majority whip.

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“If the White House is going to kick off a campaign that is full of fusty bombastic rhetoric designed to impugn Republicans by association with big tobacco while simultaneously engaging us in negotiations, then we’ll respond accordingly,” said Ueland.

Earlier this week, Rep. Thomas J. Bliley Jr. (R-Va.), chairman of the House Commerce Committee, challenged Clinton to offer more specific details about his tobacco proposals and to clarify what he is willing to sign before embarking on a campaign to drum up public support.

“Mr. President, if you really want quick action, I call on you to cancel your tobacco speaking tour,” Bliley said.

For their part, White House officials said that they have offered Congress important details of their legislative goals.

In a recent 20-page letter to McCain, Bruce Reed, the White House domestic policy advisor, detailed the administration’s position on an array of legal issues involving the advertising and marketing controls on tobacco products.

“A piecemeal [legislative] approach will not meet our overriding goal of dramatically reducing teen smoking,” Reed said.