House votes to ban flavored tobacco to curb youth vaping epidemic

WASHINGTON — The House on Friday passed legislation to ban the manufacturing and sale of flavored e-cigarettes and tobacco, a far-reaching step to combat a youth vaping epidemic that had ensnared 5 million teenagers.

The vote was 213-195 on legislation that divided House Democrats and drew opposition from Republicans.

In light of the vaping epidemic, the main target of the bill is flavored e-cigarettes, but it also would ban menthol cigarettes and cigar flavors while prohibiting the online sales of e-cigarettes.

The fate of the bill is uncertain in the Senate. Passage of the Reversing the Youth Tobacco Epidemic Act of 2019 comes months after President Donald Trump backed off a comprehensive ban on most flavored e-cigarettes, a move that had been favored by first lady Melania Trump.

The president reversed course amid warnings about job losses and the possibility that economic woes tied to the ban would undermine his reelection prospects, according to White House and campaign officials.

His administration instead implemented a scaled back ban on Feb. 6 that prohibited sales of most flavored cartridge-based e-cigarettes. Menthol- and tobacco-flavored pods aren’t affected by that ban, nor are single-use disposable vapes or bottled e-liquids for the open-tank systems typically sold in vape shops.

The bill, sponsored by Reps. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., and Donna Shalala, D-Fla., split House Democrats – including members of the Congressional Black Caucus, who slammed the bill for its ban on menthol cigarettes, which are especially popular among African American smokers. Other Democrats raised concerns about restrictions on hookah, a method of smoking popular in Middle Eastern communities, as well as the fact that high-end cigars were carved out of a ban on online tobacco sales but not products used by less affluent smokers.

Among those opposing the bill was House Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C., which forced House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., to mount a crash effort to win votes for the bill on Thursday and Friday.

“There’s no equity in this,” said Rep. Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., one of the CBC members opposed to the bill. “If we’re talking about it being a public health issue, something that we’re really, really, really concerned about, then you ban smoking, period, full stop. “

Clarke and other Democrats – joined by the American Civil Liberties Union, the Drug Policy Alliance, the National Action Network and other groups – argued that the bill could leave minority communities vulnerable to “overpolicing” by encouraging a black market in menthol cigarettes and other banned products. Many have raised the case of Eric Garner, the New York City man who was killed by a police officer who sought to arrest him for illegally selling loose cigarettes in 2014.

“Blacks and other people of color should not disproportionately bear the brunt of enforcement of such prohibitions, which a menthol ban would ensure,” the groups said in a letter.