President Obama Signs the Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act

Today, President Obama has joined Congress in taking a giant step toward making America healthier. This bipartisan legislation grants the FDA the authority to regulate tobacco products and marketing, which will help to protect public health, prevent disease, and stop tobacco companies from hooking America's children on their deadly product.

All Americans have benefitted from the oversight of the FDA on foods that we eat and medicines we take. Yet, despite the fact that tobacco is one of the deadliest products in America, the FDA has had no authority to regulate it. Today, this new law corrects that wrong.

I salute President Obama for joining Chairmen Henry Waxman and John Dingell and others in the New Direction Congress to protect Americans from addictive and dangerous tobacco products and create a healthier America.