Book him....Danno!
Posted on 06/11/2009 1:26:58 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Years in the Making, Senate Votes to Give FDA Power to Regulate Tobacco
Times have changed now that even tobacco states have smoking bans. Today, after two weeks of wrangling and a decade of considering the change, the U.S. Senate endorsed increased regulation of tobacco.
Senators voted 79-17 to regulate tobacco in the same way the government regulates everything else you put in your body -- from Froot Loops to aspirin.
Watch "World News With Charles Gibson" tonight at 6:30 ET for the full report.
At Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, organization president Matthew L. Myers called the vote "a truly historic victory" and "the strongest action Congress has ever taken to reduce tobacco use."
"Forty-five years after the first U.S. Surgeon General's report linking cigarette smoking to lung cancer, the most deadly product sold in America will no longer be the least-regulated product sold in America," Myers said in a statement.
The bill would give the federal government the power to regulate cigarette ingredients, to ban the marketing of "light cigarettes" and to require graphic warning labels.
It's a huge move that's been a long time coming.
"We have tried for ten years and we have failed," said Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., in a speech on the Senate floor earlier this month when the Senate voted to break a filibuster and consider the legislation. "Think what kind of a difference we could have made. How many lives we would have saved if we passed this ten years ago."
The House already passed its version of the bill in April, so it will go the president as soon as the chambers iron out the differences.
Unlike former President Bush, who suggested he'd veto legislation to give the FDA authority over tobacco, President Obama has said he supports it.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
And to think we had such high hopes that the smokers would pay for S-CHIP ... sigh.
Maybe they shouldn’t have raised the tobacco taxes to pay for the SCHIP expansion
Obama owns energy,military, banks,mortgage companies,cars, job corps,he dictates laws to local employment offices, now cigarettes at probably 10 dollars a pack. WTF is next, beer? whiskey,booze,women,hookers?
Wonder how all the VA and NC folk who voted their states Obama blue feel right about now.......
Taxpayers pay for 0bama’s cigarettes.
EXCELLENT! And when the tax they place on these go away, we can all expect to make up the shortfall...Obama..killing small business sectors one at a time...
The increase of federal and state cigarette excise taxes will have a far-reaching, negative impact on the convenience store industry. With the exception of petroleum products, no other category is more vital to our success than tobacco products. Given cigarettes represent 30 to 45 percent of convenience store inside sales; the deterioration of this category will have devastating consequences.
The Federal Excise Tax (FET) will dramatically increase the cost of doing business. Inventory cost will increase by an average of $6,000 per store — $1 million dollars for a chain of 166 stores — resulting in higher interest expenses. Credit card transaction fees will increase due to soaring cigarette retails. Internal shrink dollars will escalate due to the higher cost per carton. External theft will rise due to the value of cigarettes and the amount of inventory dollars we carry. In addition to the FET, Kentucky Legislators are proposing an incremental 30 to 45 cents per pack State Excise Tax (SET) which will compound these issues.
If the convenience store industry experiences double-digit sales declines in its largest inside-sales category, it will have an epic impact on the way we do business — an impact that influences our total retail strategy. With unit sales predicted to decline by more than 10 percent, retailers will need double-digit percentage increases in average retails to make up the loss in revenue dollars. While retail increases associated with the FET will make up the revenue short-fall, they will not make up the deficit in gross profit and net income dollars.
With retailers facing reduced gross profit dollars, reduced affinity sales, increased interest expense, and increased cigarettes shrink dollars; retailers will be forced to look to this category and others to make-up the loss in net income. It is unfortunate that consumers will most likely absorb additional increases above and beyond the excise taxes.
This daunting economy has already made it difficult for most retailers to maintain shareholder-value, and the impending FET and SET will place an additional burden on the convenience store industry. This burden will challenge us to evaluate our cigarette categories and possibly re-engineer our overall strategies. In time, prudent retailers will overcome this adversity and will prevail with a much stronger business model.
Tony Miller
Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing
Thorntons Inc.
http://sparechange.csnews.com/cigarettes/
I'm so confused.......
How does Obama get his Pall Malls or Kools? Does he send a secret service agent out for cartons?
I love how this big supporter of tobacco regulation to supposedly reduce the number of smokers can't quit himself.
Yep. But the smugglers of bootleg tobacco will profit big time. It may become more profitable than narcotics.
Book him....Danno!
“Lets see??? Obama wants to decriminalize pot but criminalize tobacco....I’m so confused......”
Just got to look at it this way: zero wants more CONTROL over tobacco, hence putting it under the FDA. He also wants more CONTROL over pot, and its hard to contol (further regulate and tax) something that is illegal. (Yes, I know criminaization is a form of control, but it doesn’t allow day-to-day control, just “we caught you, go to jail” control.)
It’s all about CONTROL. (The end goal in fascism is everything is allowed, but everything is regulated, taxed, and illegal at the whim of those in power.)
How does Obama get his Pall Malls or Kools? Does he send a secret service agent out for cartons?
Gotta be Kools...or Virginia Slims...
ROTFL! Talking about tooting your horn—Congress takes the cake. I’ve pulled off 5 individual press releases on this vote crowing by these senators. Here are the headlines of these press releases:
1. Senator Durbin Leads Fight to Protect America’s Kids From Tobacco
2. Senator Reid Leads Fight to Protect America’s Kids From Tobacco
3. Senator Dodd Leads Fight to Protect America’s Kids from Tobacco
4. Senators Lugar and Bayh Vote to Protect America’s Kids From Tobacco
5. Senators Snowe and Collins Vote to Protect America’s Kids From Tobacco
FDA? No necesito la FDA no apesta!.....40 libras de más cigarrillos muleboy!
And who said capitalism is dead in this country!
How does Obama get his Pall Malls or Kools? Does he send a secret service agent out for cartons?I think he bums them off A-Rod and Eliot Spitzer when they're visiting his daughters.
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