Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions

STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS -- (Senate - August 03, 2006)

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By Ms. COLLINS:

S. 3816. A bill to prohibit the shipment of tobacco products in the mail, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce legislation that will help crack down on illegal sales of tobacco to underaged young people by banning the shipment of cigarettes and other tobacco products through the U.S. mail. Not only does the delivery of cigarettes and other tobacco products through the mail create opportunities for tax evasion, but it also creates an easy means through which children and young people can obtain these potentially deadly products.

Tobacco remains the No. 1 preventable cause of death in the United States today, accounting for more than 400,000 deaths a year and billions of dollars in health care costs. Moreover, tobacco addiction is a ``teen-onset'' disease: Ninety percent of all smokers start before they are 21. If we are to put an end to this tragic, yet preventable, epidemic, we must accelerate our efforts not only to help more smokers to quit, but also to discourage young people from ever lighting up in the first place.

Internet sales of tobacco are growing and growing fast. Unfortunately, effective safeguards against illegal sales to young people are virtually nonexistent on the more than 400 Web sites selling tobacco, making it easier and cheaper for kids to buy cigarettes.

A 2002 American Journal of Public Health study found that 20 percent of cigarette-selling Web sites do not say anything about sales to minors being prohibited. More than half require only that the buyer say they are of legal age. Another 15 percent require only that the buyer type in their date of birth, and only 7 percent require any driver's license information.

It is no wonder that Internet ``stings'' conducted by attorneys general in at least 15 States have found that children as young as 9 years old are able to purchase cigarettes easily. One study in The Journal of the American Medical Association reported that kids as young as 11 were successful more than 90 percent of the time in purchasing cigarettes over the Internet. Moreover, since Internet cigarette vendors typically require a two-carton minimum purchase, many high school and middle school buyers of Internet tobacco also end up serving as suppliers of cigarettes to other kids.

In an effort to combat this problem, all of the major credit card companies have taken steps to ensure that their systems are not used to process payments for illegal cigarette sales. Moreover, all of the major commercial carriers--UPS, DHL and FedEx--have agreed to put a stop to the mail order sale and delivery of tobacco products. This leaves our U.S. Postal Service as the sole remaining courier for the delivery of tobacco products to minors. I believe that it is time for us to close this final delivery gap so that cigarettes and other tobacco products are not so easily accessible to our Nation's children.

The Postal Code already makes it illegal to mail alcoholic beverages and guns. The legislation I am introducing today will amend title 39 of the United States Code to add cigarettes and smokeless tobacco to the list of restricted, nonmailable matter. Any person found guilty of mailing such a product would be liable for a civil penalty of up to $5,000 or 10 times the estimated retail value of the tobacco products, including all Federal, State, and local taxes, whichever is highest, for a first violation. Civil penalties of up to $100,000 would be imposed for a second or each subsequent violation.

Mr. President, the U.S. Postal Service should not be the delivery agent for illegal cigarette traffickers. The legislation I am introducing today will close a loophole that has allowed Internet and mail order companies to circumvent the law, and I urge my colleagues to support this reform.

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Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, I rise to introduce the Creating Opportunities for Minor League Professionals, Entertainers and Teams through legal Entry--COMPETE--Act. This bill will level the playing field for minor league sports teams that depend on getting the best athletic talent. I thank Senators FEINSTEIN, CORNYN, LIEBERMAN, MIKULSKI, and LEAHY for joining me in introducing this measure.

The core problem we address is that under current law, minor league players who have to use the H-2B visa category face severe visa shortages, while major league players qualify automatically for plentiful P-1 visas.

The H-2B visas are intended for use by industries facing seasonal demands for labor, such as the hospitality and logging industries. However, this type of visa is also used by many talented, highly competitive foreign athletes who are recruited by U.S. teams.

A chronic H-2B visa shortage over the last few years has posed challenges for all industries using the H-2B visa category. In recent fiscal years, including 2006, the 66,000 visa cap was met early in the year. While we were successful last year in crafting a temporary, 2-year fix for the H-2B shortage, this fix will expire at the end of the current fiscal year.

However, solving this problem goes beyond fixing the H-2B visa cap. Minor league players simply do not belong in the same visa category as seasonal workers. There is no rational basis for automatically qualifying major league players for P-1 visas, which are granted to talented athletes, artists, and entertainers, while denying them to minor league players. My amendment would remedy this unfair situation.

The problem of requiring minor league athletes to use the H-2B visa category has posed a particular challenge to those of us in Maine who enjoy cheering on our sports teams. The MAINEiacs, a Canadian junior hockey league team that plays its games in Lewiston, ME, has faced tremendous difficulties obtaining the H-2B visas necessary for the majority of its players to come to the United States to play in the team's first home games.

Last year, due to uncertainty surrounding the availability of H-2B visas at the end of the fiscal year, the team had to reschedule its season home opener and cancel several early season games. This forced the team to schedule make-up games for those normally played in September. The problems created by the visa situation creates an unnecessary hardship for this team, in addition to threatening the revenue the team generates for the city of Lewiston and businesses in the surrounding area.

The Portland Sea Dogs, a Double-A baseball team affiliated with the Boston Red Sox, is another of the many teams that relies on H-2B visas to bring some of its most skilled players to the United States. Thousands of fans come each year to see this team, and others like it across the country, play one of America's favorite sports. Due to the shortage of H-2B visas, however, Major League Baseball reports that, in 2004 and early 2005, more than 350 talented young, foreign baseball players were prevented from coming to the United States to play for minor league teams. These teams have been a traditional proving ground for athletes hoping to make it to the major leagues and players often move from these teams to major league rosters.

Including these highly skilled athletes in the H-2B visa category seems particularly unusual when you consider that major league athletes are permitted to use an entirely different nonimmigrant visa category--the P-1 visa. This visa is available to athletes who are deemed by the Citizenship and Immigration Services to perform at an ``internationally recognized level of performance.'' Arguably, any foreign athlete whose achievements have earned him a contract with an American team would meet this definition.

CIS, however, has interpreted this category to exclude minor and amateur league athletes. Instead, the P-1 visa is typically reserved for only those athletes who have already been promoted to major league sports. Unfortunately, this creates something of a catch-22 for minor league athletes--if an H-2B visa shortage means that promising athletes are unable to hone their skills and prove themselves in the minor leagues, they are far less likely to earn the major league contract required for a P-1 visa.

A simple, commonsense solution would be to expand the P-1 visa category to include minor league and certain amateur-level athletes who have demonstrated a significant likelihood of graduating to the major leagues. Major League Baseball strongly supports the expansion of the P-1 visa category to include professional minor league baseball players. In correspondence to me, the league has pointed out that making P-1 visas available to this group of athletes, teams would be able to make player development decisions based on the talent of its players, without being constrained by visa quotas. The P-1 category, the league believes, is appropriate for minor league players because these are the players that major league clubs have selected as some of the best baseball prospects in the world.

There is no question that Americans are passionate about sports. We have high expectations for our teams and demand only the best from our athletes. By expanding the P-1 visa category, we will make it possible for athletes to be selected based on fair competition in talent and skill, rather the artificial limits of visa availability. In addition, we would reduce some pressure on the H-2B visa category making more of those visas available to the industries that need them.

Mr. President, the inequity of our current policy is clear. Let us take this simple step toward a more rational visa policy.

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