GOP Disputes Price of Tobacco Bill

The true costs of the leading tobacco bill could run hundreds of billions of dollars more than the estimates of its authors, Republicans charged. But the bill’s supporters countered that the new estimate was little more than, in the words of one, “a numbers game.” According to the analysis released by the Senate Republican Policy Committee, the tobacco bill sponsored by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), could cost consumers and tobacco companies from $755.3 billion to $868.9 billion over the next 25 years--far more than the $516-billion price tag usually given by McCain.