Executive Calendar

Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, let me say at the outset, I join with the sentiments expressed by the Senator from Oklahoma and our colleagues on the floor, starting with a moment of silence until this last speech, in remembering the historic American significance of September 11.

The fact that both political parties came together shows there is hope that when it comes to this Nation and its values, what brings us together is a powerful force. Today it is the force of memory, the force of promise, and the force of the future of this country. I want to salute my colleagues, particularly my friend from Oklahoma for his moving statement about families in his State touched by this tragedy. E-Cigarettes

Mr. President, I would like to change topics for just a moment to another important issue that has risen today and I believe is worthy of comment.

Just a few hours ago, the White House, the President, the First Lady, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, and the Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration made a historic announcement when it comes to vaping and e-cigarettes.

They just finished the 2019 National Youth Tobacco Survey. What they have found is that in a 1-year period of time, the number of our kids who are using these vaping products and e-cigarette products has gone up from 20 percent to 27.5 percent. In the previous year, it had gone up by 80 percent, and it is continuing to skyrocket because it is an addiction which is so popular with children.

Our kids don't know any better. They are being told by JUUL and other companies that somehow this vaping is really a healthy alternative to tobacco cigarettes. That has yet to be proven, and the Food and Drug Administration challenged JUUL and the other companies to come up with clinical proof of that statement before they repeat it again and again and again.

In the course of the last several years, the sale of these e- cigarettes and vaping products has mushroomed dramatically in the United States. Just ask any school principal, teacher, and many parents, and they will tell you what is happening. Kids don't understand that these flavors they are buying--flavor pods like Unicorn Milk, Gummy Bears, Bubble Gum--sound like some sweet candy treat, but when you inhale it into your lungs, you run the risk of real damage.

So far, over 450 American kids have been admitted to hospitals because of lung problems from vaping. Six have died. These young people do not understand how risky this is.

Have you walked down the street and seen somebody with a big cloud of white smoke over their head as they exhale from one of these vaping devices? They don't realize that what they are ingesting in their lungs could be deadly.

The Food and Drug Administration and the Secretary of Health and Human Services made an announcement today that is significant. They announced that the e-cigarette device and flavors that are now being sold are going to be taken off the market, out of retail stores, off of online sales. Then, come May of next year, those who want to bring these flavors back have to justify them as being consistent with being good for public health.

I ask that the Record note that Senator Murkowski and I have joined in a bill we introduced last year, a bill which went after these flavor pods. I want to thank her. There weren't a lot of Senators who were willing to step up, and she did. On a bipartisan basis, we set out to ban any of these flavor pods that were dangerous to children and couldn't be proven to be harmless. I thank her for that leadership. I believe our legislation and our constant pressure on this administration came to this moment today where we are stepping forward.

We are making it clear in the United States of America that we know vaping targets kids. We know these targeted kids are risking their health and their life by continuing to use e-cigarettes and vaping. With this administration today, on a bipartisan basis, we are banning these flavor pods once and for all. We are going to try to move forward.

The last thing I will say is this: I hope the Surgeon General or one of the other leaders in public health in our government will step up now and notify every school principal in America to call an assembly, to gather the parents, and let them know about this danger. There are 5 million kids in this country vaping today. Let's hope they can stop, and stop soon, before they harm themselves.

I salute the administration for its leadership on this matter. I worked on it for quite a few years. It is a good moment in our history that we are moving together on a bipartisan basis.

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Mr. DURBIN. Harris), the Senator from Minnesota (Ms. Klobuchar), the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Sanders), and the Senator from Massachusetts (Ms. Warren) are necessarily absent.

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