Hill tobacco interests scramble for buyout

WASHINGTON, Nov. 20 (UPI) -- Tobacco state interests are trying to attach provisions to a catch-all budget bill that would provide a $7 billion buyout for tobacco farmers.

But supporters of the move are facing stiff opposition from a number of conservative and liberal interests opposed to the effort to change the depression-era government quota-based system for subsidizing tobacco farming in the United States.

Some opponents, including tobacco industry interests, argue it should not be done without also granting the U.S. Food and Drug Administration the ability to regulate tobacco as a drug.

While the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., the second-largest tobacco firm in the United States, and Brown and Williamson, the third largest, are supporting the bill, Phillip Morris had strongly supported an earlier version that included FDA regulation.

Ultimately, prospects for approval seem slim, with senior staff for the House leadership predicting the measure does not have enough support to ensure inclusion in the final budget bill.