Tobacco-state lawmakers want to put buyout plan on end-of-session spending

[Socialist Christian]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2003/11/20/national1854EST0800.DTL

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Tobacco-state lawmakers made a last-ditch effort Thursday to add a $7 billion tobacco farmer buyout to an end-of-the-year spending bill.

House Republicans said they received a commitment from GOP leaders for a meeting before the weekend to make their case for the deal, which would have cigarette companies footing the bill.

The $7 billion would be distributed among farmers in exchange for them giving up a Depression-era government allotment program that set strict price and production controls, and replacing it with a more market-oriented system.

Rep. Ron Lewis, R-Ky., said he was cautiously optimistic about the buyout's prospects, but Senate sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it was unlikely it would win approval there. An earlier effort to push a buyout in combination with a measure giving the Food and Drug Administration authority over cigarettes stalled in the Senate