The U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions has delayed a vote on a bill that would give the FDA power to regulate tobacco. The Committee was originally supposed to “mark up” or vote on Tuesday May 12 on Senator Ted Kennedy’s version of the FDA tobacco regulatory legislation.
The Committee now is scheduled to vote on the bill next Tuesday, May 19.
In other tobacco news, a coalition of bar owners in Iowa that had joined forces to fight a smoking ban, challenging its constitutionality, have given up the fight due to monetary constraints. The lawsuit was recently dismissed due to the mounting legal fees.
Still, one bar owner, Larry Duncan, who was not a part of the coalition, and his group Freedom Fighters plans to join together with those involved in the lawsuit. “We’re trying to include everybody going after the same purpose, not only all the civil rights, but also interstate commerce, tobacco is not illegal,” Duncan told KWQC TV6 in Iowa.