['PHILIP', 'MORRIS', 'COMPANIES', 'INC.', '_INTER-OFFICE', 'CORRESPONDENCE', '1341', 'G', 'STREET,', 'N.W.,', 'SUITE', '900,', 'WASHINGTON,', 'DC', '20005', 'To:', 'Distribution', ';', 'Date:', 'March', '30,', '1998', '  ', 'From:', '’', 'Greg', 'Scott', 'Subject:', 'Senate', 'Commerce', 'Committee', '(McCain)', 'Draft', 'Tobacco', 'Bill', ' ', 'We', 'are', 'requesting', 'that', 'you', 'voice', 'your', 'strong', 'objection', 'to', 'the', 'comprehensive', 'tobacco', 'bill', 'currently', 'being', 'drafted', 'by', 'Senate', 'Commerce', 'Committee', 'Chairman', 'John', 'McCain.', 'As', 'drafted', 'the', 'bill', 'would:', 'e', 'lead', 'to', 'prohibition', 'by', 'granting', 'the', 'FDA', 'unfettered', 'authority', 'over', 'the', 'manufacturing', 'and', 'marketing', 'of', 'tobacco', 'products,', 'with', 'authority', 'to', 'recommend', 'aban', 'on', 'domestic', 'sales', 'of', 'tobacco', 'products', 'which', 'would', 'be', 'effective', 'if', 'Congress', 'failed', 'to', 'reject', 'within', 'two', 'years;', 'e', 'threaten', 'termination', 'of', 'exports', 'of', 'tobacco', 'products', 'by', 'placing', 'USS.', 'tobacco', 'products', 'at', 'a', 'competitive', 'disadvantage', 'in', 'offshore', 'markets', 'and', 'imposing', 'procedural', 'and_', 'financial', 'hurdles', 'on', 'the', 'ability', 'of', 'U.S.', 'manufacturers', 'to', 'export', 'tobacco', 'products', 'overseas;', 'and', '«', 'impose', 'massive', 'payment', 'obligations', 'on', 'the', 'tobacco', 'industry', 'in', 'excess', 'of', 'half-trillion', 'dollars', 'in', '25', 'years', 'that', 'would', 'threaten', 'the', 'economic', 'viability', 'of', 'the', 'industry,', 'likely', 'resulting', 'in', 'the', 'bankruptcy', 'of', 'your', 'customers.', 'Even', 'though', 'the', 'bill', 'contains', 'the', 'LEAF', 'Act,', 'with', 'a', 'provision', 'that', 'offers', 'farmers', 'the', 'opportunity', 'for', 'a', 'buyout,', 'the', 'funds', 'will', 'not', 'be', 'available', 'to', 'assist', 'growers', 'if', 'the', 'manufacturers', 'cannot', 'meet', 'the', 'unrealistic', 'punitive', 'payment', 'schedule', 'required', 'by', 'the', 'proposal,', 'leaving', 'the', 'grower', 'empty-handed.', 'A', 'list', 'of', 'talking', 'points', 'is', 'attached.', 'We', 'urge', 'you', 'to', 'contact', 'your', 'respective', 'state', 'delegation', 'in', 'Congress', 'and', 'request', 'them', 'to', 'oppose', 'the', 'McCain', 'draft', 'bill.', ' ', 'PLLLOLP', 'LOZ']