Deal Faces a Slow, Uncertain Path in Congress

WASHINGTON — Friday’s historic legal settlement between 40 states and the tobacco industry faces an uncertain fate in Congress, which must approve several aspects, notably its limits on tobacco company liability for past misdeeds.

“It goes without saying that Congress cannot and will not be bound by the negotiations of others,” Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), one of the most outspoken anti-tobacco lawmakers, said in a statement released minutes after the announcement. “It would be preposterous for Congress to rubber-stamp this or any other tobacco settlement.”

However, Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), another leading anti-tobacco figure in the Senate, called the $368.5-billion agreement “a very positive beginning.”

President Clinton, whose posture will surely influence Congress, sounded an initially cautious tone, withholding his support and ordering aides to “subject this agreement to the strictest scrutiny.”

Even before the settlement was announced, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) expressed concern Thursday that the legislative calendar was so clogged that there might not be time this session to deal with tobacco,

House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) served notice that Congress would not necessarily be bound by the agreement. “I have no prejudgment at this time for or against it,” he told reporters after the settlement was announced.

“The Constitution does not have any provision for the Congress to delegate [decision-making] to a private group in a secret meeting,” Gingrich added. “Whether or not that becomes law will be a function of the congressional committees, the hearing process.”

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Congress would have to enact several provisions of the settlement into law. In this category are clauses halting pending class-action lawsuits against the industry and banning future class-action suits. Congress will also have to play a role in establishing the various funds through which the industry is to compensate those who have been hurt by its products.

If a bill makes it through Congress, it would establish a national policy to regulate tobacco products. Along the way, every congressional hearing, debate and negotiation would be a battlefield for anti-smoking activists and tobacco-friendly legislators.

In a preview of the arguments likely to come from lawmakers representing tobacco-growing states, Rep. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) said his chief concern was ensuring that farmers in his state are protected. In a letter sent Friday to House and Senate leaders, Burr called for “emergency financial support for farmers, factory workers and small-business owners who will face economic hardship” if the agreement becomes law.

“Sadly, farmers and small-business owners did not have a seat at the negotiating table,” he said. “This proposal, should it become law, will have a rippling effect across the economy of this country.”

House Commerce Committee Chairman Tom Bliley, a Virginia Republican and longtime friend of tobacco, said the accord “deserves a full, fair and public review by Congress.”

“My committee and others will do so, allowing ample time for all the details to be known and for the public to form its own opinions,” Bliley said in a statement.

How the legislation will fare in Congress will depend in large measure on its individual parts and the committees to which they are assigned. Congressional leaders have not yet made their choices, but as one Senate staffer explained, committee jurisdiction in both houses will serve as an early warning signal on the success or failure of the agreement.

“We don’t know much right now, so we can’t say how legislation will be drafted and where hearings will be conducted,” the staffer said. “There are so many possible routes. But once it’s in a committee, we can guess what might happen next.”

For example, the aide said, provisions in the deal that call for Food and Drug Administration regulation of nicotine as a controlled substance could go to the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee, while a provision aimed at ending certain types of advertising could go to the Commerce Committee. Among the myriad other provisions, various pieces could end up with the Finance and Judiciary committees.

Similarly, in the House, tobacco legislation could be carved up among several committees. But so far, nothing is certain about how that will be done, except that Gingrich said he would assign key House committees to review the pact and recommend what to do.

As a practical matter, congressional observers say, nothing is likely to happen in Washington for quite some time. Although the tobacco negotiators rushed to find a settlement to avoid trials for the dozens of lawsuits brought by state officials, Congress will be in no similar hurry.

“Before this deal is ratified, the American people need adequate assurances that the tobacco companies’ seduction of America’s young people really is over,” said Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa).

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Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles), a longtime tobacco industry foe, said: “When evaluating a deal like that being proposed today, it is essential to ask what does the tobacco industry get and what does the American public get. Any relief the tobacco industry receives must be matched by even greater protection for the public health.”

Another key indicator of what Congress will do will come from a commission of the public health officials led by former Surgeon Gen. C. Everett Koop and David Kessler, former head of the FDA.

In a skeptical response in which they took no position on the agreement, Koop and Kessler urged Congress and the White House to wait for their group’s formal response.

Times staff writers Kasper Zeuthen and Art Pine contributed to this story.