July 2017

This week, both the House and Senate Appropriations Committee approved spending legislation that would cut funding for the CDC's Office on Smoking and Health. The House bill cut the program by $50 million. Rep. Wasserman-Schultz (D-FL) offered an amendment to restore funding, but it was defeated by voice vote.

In related action, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved the FY18 Agriculture/FDA appropriations bill without any tobacco legislative riders. During the mark up, Senators Rubio (R-FL) and Manchin (D-WV) spoke in support of exempting large and premium cigars from the FDA's authority, but did not offer any tobacco related amendments.

As you may recall, the House bill included two tobacco related legislative riders. The first rider exempted large and premium cigars from the FDA's regulatory authority. The second rider will change the so-called "grandfather date" in order to exempt many e-cigarettes, cigars, and other tobacco products now on the market from an important FDA review and evaluation of their impact on public health.

The ATS joined several letters to the House and Senate expressing our support for the CDC's Office on Smoking and Health funding and our opposition to tobacco riders. While the ATS is pleased the Senate bill is free of tobacco riders, we will remain vigilant to ensure no tobacco riders are included in the final appropriations package.