['RJRI', 'News', 'Report', 'March', '19,', '1998', 'Clinton-Tobacco', 'AP', 'US', '&', 'World', 'Thursday,', 'March', '12,', '1998', 'WASHINGTON', '(AP)', '--', 'Hoping', 'to', 'prod', 'Congress', 'to', 'move', 'ahead', 'on', 'tobacco', 'legislation,', 'President', 'Clinton', 'gave', 'his', 'blessing', 'Thursday', 'to', 'a', 'bill', 'that', 'would', 'raise', 'cigarette', 'prices', 'by', '$1.50', 'a', 'pack', 'and', 'set', 'an', 'annual', 'cap', 'on', 'the', "industry's", 'legal', 'liability.', '“It', 'is', 'a', 'good,', 'tough', 'bill,"', 'Clinton', 'said', 'in', 'a', 'speech', 'to', 'the', 'National', 'Association', 'of', 'Attorneys', 'General.', '"|', 'hope', 'it', 'gets', 'wide', 'support.', 'This', 'legistation', 'will', 'save', 'lives."', 'But', 'Senate', 'Majority', 'Leader', 'Trent', 'Lott', 'already', 'has', 'picked', 'a', 'different', 'bill', 'and', 'set', 'a', 'June', '1', 'deadline', 'for', 'a', 'vote', 'on', 'it,', 'according', 'to', 'that', "measure's", 'sponsor,', 'Sen.', 'John', 'McCain,', 'R-Ariz.,', 'who', 'chairs', 'the', 'Commerce', 'Committee.', '"There\'s', 'only', 'gonna', 'be', 'one', 'bill', 'that', 'goes', 'to', 'the', 'floor', 'of', 'the', 'Senate,', 'and', "that's", 'what', 'comes', 'out', 'of', 'the', 'Commerce', 'Committee,”', 'McCain', 'told', 'the', 'same', 'group', 'later.', '"Have', 'no', 'illusions', 'otherwise.”', 'The', 'bills', 'offer', 'the', 'tobacco', 'industry', 'different', 'kinds', 'of', 'protection', 'from', 'lawsuits.', "McCain's", 'bil!', 'would', 'grant', 'the', 'industry', 'immunity', 'from', 'class-', 'action', 'lawsuits,', 'in', 'an', 'effort', 'to', 'prevent', 'massive', 'judgments', 'from', 'bankrupting', 'companies.', 'The', 'bill', 'endorsed', 'by', 'Clinton,', 'sponsored', 'by', 'Sens.', 'Tom', 'Harkin,', 'D-lowa,', 'John', 'Chafee,', 'R-R.1.,', 'and', 'Bob', 'Graham,', 'D-', 'Fla.,', 'instead', 'would', 'set', 'an', '$8', 'billion', 'limit', 'on', 'what', 'tobacco', 'companies', 'could', 'be', 'forced', 'to', 'pay', 'plaintiffs', 'in', 'any', 'year.', 'That', 'way,', 'the', 'sponsors', 'say,', 'individuals', 'with', 'limited', 'funds', 'could', 'share', 'costs', 'in', 'class-action', 'lawsuits.', "McCain's", 'bill', 'is', 'modeled', 'after', 'the', '$368', 'billion', 'settlement', 'reached', 'in', 'June', 'between', 'state', 'attorneys', 'general', 'and', 'the', 'tobacco', 'industry', 'that', 'would', 'settle', '40', 'state', 'lawsuits', 'and', 'shelter', 'companies', 'from', 'future', 'court', 'action', 'brought', 'by', 'large', 'classes', 'of', 'plaintiffs.', 'Clinton', 'praised', 'the', 'attorneys', 'general', 'for', 'fighting', 'what', 'once', 'looked', 'like', 'a', 'losing', 'battle.', '“Be', 'proud', 'of', 'what', 'you', 'have', 'done,"', 'he', 'said.', '"But', 'bring', 'all', 'of', 'your', 'influence', 'to', 'bear', 'on', 'the', 'Congress."', 'He', 'said', 'their', 'efforts', 'brought', 'to', 'light', 'incriminating', 'industry', 'documents', 'earlier', 'than', 'would', 'otherwise', 'have', 'been', 'the', 'case.', 'The', 'documents', 'showed', 'that', 'some', 'tobacco', 'companies', 'lied', 'for', 'years', 'about', 'their', 'efforts', 'to', 'hook', 'children', 'on', 'cigarettes.', '"Thirty', 'years', 'of', 'deception.', 'Now', 'Congress', 'must', 'act', 'to', 'bring', 'it', 'to', 'an', 'end,”', 'the', 'president', 'said.', '"Thirty', 'years', 'of', 'manipulation.', 'Congress', 'must', 'act', 'to', 'bring', 'it', 'to', 'an', 'end.', 'And', 'it', 'must', 'act', 'now.”', 'The', 'bill', 'Clinton', 'favors,', 'introduced', 'Thursday,', 'would', 'increase', 'cigarette', 'prices', 'by', '$1.50', 'over', 'two', 'years.', 'In', 'an', 'effort', 'to', 'reduce', 'teen-age', 'smoking', 'by', '65', 'percent', 'over', 'a', 'decade,', 'the', 'measure', 'would', 'penalize', 'the', 'industry', '$10', 'billion', 'a', 'year', 'if', 'the', 'actual', 'reduction', 'in', 'teen', 'smoking', 'lagged', 'behind', 'the', 'goal.', 'Legal', 'experts', 'have', 'testified', 'that', 'no', 'proposal', 'could', 'force', 'the', 'industry', 'to', 'keep', 'its', 'word', 'to', 'steer', 'advertising', 'away', 'from', 'kids,', 'even', 'if', 'Congress', 'grants', 'its', 'demands.', 'Curbing', 'marketing,', 'the', 'experts', 'say,', 'is', 'a', 'voluntary', 'surrender', 'of', 'First', 'Amendment', 'protections', 'of', 'free', 'speech,', 'something', 'that', 'could', 'not', 'be', 'forced', 'by', 'Congress.', 'Sen.', 'Jack', 'Reed,', 'D-R.1.,', 'offered', 'an', 'incentive', 'for', 'the', "industry's", 'compliance,', 'proposing', 'to', 'disallow', 'a', 'tax', 'deduction', 'for', 'advertising', 'expenses', 'of', 'any', 'tobacco', 'company', 'that', 'continues', 'marketing', 'to', 'children.', 'In', 'addition', 'to', 'Clinton,', 'members', 'of', 'the', 'public', 'health', 'community', 'led', 'by', 'former', 'Surgeon', 'General', 'C.', 'Everett', 'Koop', 'and', 'former', 'Food', 'and', 'Drug', 'Administration', 'chief', 'David', 'Kessler', 'issued', 'letters', 'supporting', 'the', 'bill.', 'Meanwhile,', 'Rep.', 'Tom', 'Bliley,', 'R-Va.,', 'chairman', 'of', 'the', 'House', 'Commerce', 'Committee,', 'allowed', 'a', 'deadline', 'to', 'pass', 'on', 'his', 'subpoena', 'of', 'tobacco', 'industry', 'documents.', 'Bliley,', 'who', 'issued', 'subpoenas', 'for', '39,000', 'documents', 'Feb.', '19', 'and', 'set', 'a', 'deadline', 'for', 'receiving', 'them', 'at', 'noon', 'on', 'Thursday,', 'said', 'he', 'would', 'not', 'take', 'further', 'action', 'until', 'a', 'Minnesota', 'court', 'official', 'decides', 'whether', 'the', 'papers', 'should', 'be', 'made', 'public.', 'Bliley', 'said', 'the', 'ruling', '“should', 'come', 'down', 'within', 'days."', 'Page', '9', 'RJRO000000009003544', '70053', '2014', ' ', 'StOL', '9S0Ee¢', ' ']