Word: tobacco
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WASHINGTON: First RJR sends out word that it wants out of the proposed tobacco deal; then the industry's No. 2 player hastily denies it. But as John McCain's settlement bill in the Senate gets harsher and harsher, the signal was clear: Big Tobacco is thinking about a fight...
...Tobacco has no friends on the Hill in this one," says TIME Washington correspondent Bruce Van Voorst. "The Senate has been thumbing its nose at the industry all week." McCain was unworried Thursday -- his concern right now is to get the bill through Congress -- but as Van Voorst says, "Tobacco is not without cards in this game." RJR is prepared to fight any restrictions on industry advertising in the courts as a First Amendment violation -- and experts say they more than have a case...
WASHINGTON: "Deal" is the wrong word for the tobacco settlement that John McCain spent all weekend wrangling through the Senate Commerce Committee, since Big Tobacco has already turned this one down...
...Tobacco's livid right now, because they can't get to any of the key senators," says Van Voorst, "and they're threatening to walk." Van Voorst expects the committee's version to emerge sometime this week. Then the real negotiations can begin...
...McCain's version will charge more -- $506 billion as opposed to $368 before -- and offer less liability protection against lawsuits. "That's giving the industry a conniption," says TIME Congressional correspondent Jay Carney. But McCain can deal with tobacco's demands later -- right now he's more concerned about getting bipartisan support for the bill in his own committee. And the sticking point, as negotiators prepare for a weekend of haggling, is FDA nicotine regulation. "The White House and Koop's public health camp want the FDA to have tight control over nicotine content," says Carney. "The Republicans hate regulatory...