House Democrats will attempt to crack down on youth smoking this week when they return to Washington from a weeklong break for Presidents Day.
A bill by House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone would raise the age to purchase tobacco products to 21 and include more health warnings on all products.
It also would make it illegal for tobacco companies to market their products to anyone under 21 and extend the FDA’s regulations for cigarettes to smokeless products such as e-cigarettes.
President Trump has signaled he’s interested in ramping up regulations on youth vaping, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican, said last year that he was open to raising the age required to buy tobacco products.
However, Mr. Pallone’s bill appears to lack support from Capitol Hill Republicans. Rep. Peter King, New York Republican, was the only GOP cosponsor on the House bill.
During the mark-up of the bill in Mr. Pallone’s committee in November, Rep. Greg Walden said he supports the cause but felt the bill failed to address the root of the issue.
“I fear this legislation will inadvertently contribute to a growing illicit market and those with nicotine addictions — both adults and children — will turn to more dangerous, unregulated products,” Mr. Walden, Oregon Republican, wrote in a statement. “I also remain concerned that this bill does nothing to address the sale of illegal THC products responsible for the majority of recently reported vaping illnesses.”
There are two bills in the Senate similar to Mr. Pallone’s bill. One, led by Sen. Sherrod Brown, Ohio Democrat, lacks any Republican co-sponsors. The other from Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, New Hampshire Democrat, has three Republican co-sponsors: Sens. Mitt Romney of Utah, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan M. Collins of Maine.
Beyond the youth-smoking effort, a handful of other House bills up for votes this week should garner strong bipartisan support.
One of the first votes would designate lynching as a federal hate crime under the Emmett Till Antilynching Act, a historic vote to mark Black History Month.
“For too long, lynching has not been classified as a federal crime, but to borrow a quote from Rev. King, ’the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice,’” said Rep. Bobby L. Rush, Georgia Democrat.
“The importance of this bill cannot be overstated. From Charlottesville to El Paso, we are still being confronted with the same violent racism and hatred that took the life of Emmett and so many others. The passage of this bill will send a strong and clear message to the nation that we will not tolerate this bigotry,” Mr. Rush said.
According to the NAACP, 3,446 black Americans were lynched from 1882 to 1968, more than 70% of all the lynchings that occurred in that time frame.
Democrats have also put forward two bills to improve public access to information at the Department of Veterans Affairs.
A bill by Rep. Norma Torres, California Democrat, would require the VA to give veterans more information about higher education opportunities available to them.
A bipartisan bill by Democratic Reps. Max Rose of New York and Gilbert Cisneros of California, and Republican Rep. Greg Steube of Florida would direct the VA to create a searchable website for the public to access all reports the department generates at the request of Congress.
• Gabriella Muñoz can be reached at gmunoz@washingtontimes.com.
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