Senate could vote today on tougher tobacco laws

— -- After more than a decade of debate, Congress is poised to approve the most sweeping effort ever to regulate tobacco products.

The Senate could pass a bipartisan bill as early as today that would require larger health warnings on cigarette packs, ban candy flavorings, ban the use of claims such as "light," "mild" and "low tar," and further restrict tobacco advertising.

On Monday, the Senate voted to end debate, a crucial step toward passage. In April, the House approved a similar bill giving the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the authority to regulate tobacco. President Obama, who has struggled to quit smoking, has said he'll sign the legislation.

"It's historic in that we're finally saying tobacco needs to be regulated," said Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, who co-authored a bill in 1990 to ban smoking on airplanes. He said the bill will save millions of lives and protect children, but he lamented that "it breaks my heart it took us 20 years."

In 1998, Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona pushed a bill to give the FDA such authority, but he was thwarted by a well-financed tobacco lobby.

The powerful tobacco industry has long resisted regulation, but its grip has been weakening, said co-author Rep. Henry Waxman, a California Democrat, who first sought such a step in the 1980s. Since 1994, when tobacco executives told his Energy and Commerce Committee that nicotine was not addictive, public attitudes and laws have changed dramatically, he said.

More than two dozen states have passed comprehensive laws to ban smoking in public places and most have raised tobacco taxes.

Philip Morris USA, the nation's largest cigarette maker, embraced regulation. Spokesman Bill Phelps said the company, maker of Marlboros, hopes it will be a "framework to pursue tobacco products that are less harmful than conventional cigarettes."

The second and third largest tobacco makers, R.J. Reynolds and Lorillard, oppose the bill. They argue that its advertising restrictions will lock in Philip Morris' market advantage.