(2007-08-04) — With child health care bills emerging from the House and Senate each relying on increases in the federal cigarette excise tax to help provide $7 billion a year or more, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-NV, today offered an amendment designed to “guarantee an un-ending funding stream for children’s health by encouraging older Americans to take up smoking.”

“Without a growing population of smokers,” Sen. Reid said, “We won’t have enough cash to fund these increases in the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and we would have to raise other taxes. This bill would provide federal matching dollars to create an advertising campaign through the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) to get more seniors to consider the joys of tobacco in their waning years.”