Jump to full article: Buffalo (NY) News, 2010-03-12
Author: Jerry Zremski NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF
Intro: The Senate late Thursday unanimously passed a bill that could devastate the Seneca Nation's mail-order cigarette business, voting to ban the U.S. Postal Service from mailing tobacco products.
The Senate's sudden and bipartisan passage of the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act thrilled anti-smoking advocates and surely will anger the Senecas, who have said the bill could threaten as many as 1,000 jobs in Western New York.
The House passed its version of the bill by a 397-11 margin last May.
"Can you imagine a piece of legislation that is so common sense, so painfully obvious that, even in Washington's partisan climate, it passes the U.S. Senate unanimously?" said Gretchen Leffler, regional vice president of the American Cancer Society in Western New York. "That's what the PACT Act is."
Leffler praised New York's senators, Charles E. Schumer and Kirsten E. Gillibrand, for standing firm in support of the bill. Gillibrand in particular has been the target of a Seneca Nation publicity campaign aimed at pressuring her to abandon her support for the legislation.
Jump to full article » |