Patch legislation

Instead of just passing anti-smoking legislation, senators who had opposed the deal this week decided they needed more time to wean themselves away from devotion to the tobacco industry and so slapped on some amendments to delay the bill. Consider this nicotine-patch legislation.

Sen. John McCain’s bill started out as largely an anti-tobacco measure — an increase in the cost of a pack of cigarettes by $1.10 over five years; advertising restrictions to protect kids; look-back provisions to penalize companies that did not make progress in reducing teen smoking. It was a large bill to begin with and has gotten larger now that opponents have tried to add enough amendments to scare off supporters.

Like the Maine anti-smoking bill that brought to Maine additional revenue and additional disagreement over how to spend it, the federal bill may be used for a marriage penalty tax cut and expanded operations against illegal drugs. These provisions drain money away from the bill’s funding of anti-smoking campaigns, giving health groups less reason to be enthusiastic about supporting the bill and opponents like Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott more reason to let it die.

That would be a loss for both sides. Public support is clearly on the side of Congress creating serious legislation that will reduce teen smoking. Nothing wrong with an amendment that tries to reduce drug abuse too, but cigarettes kill more people than drugs, alcohol, homicides and suicides combined. Senate leadership should not allow relatively minor amendments to kill this important bill. It would help if Majority Leader Lott stopped suggesting that he was going to pull the bill and if Minority Leader Tom Daschle stopped pushing for cloture.

There’s still plenty of time for Congress to thoroughly debate the merits of the McCain legislation and modify it to build support. President Clinton can play a helpful role in suggesting to the Senate how far his support of the bill extends. Maine Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins can help by keeping colleagues focused on the tobacco portion of the bill and put aside other concerns.

The legislation is a rare chance for the Senate to do something significant to help children lead healthier lives. It is a chance for members of Congress to save lives. They should not allow the bill to be smothered by extraneous amendments.