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North Carolina’s U.S. senators — Republican Richard Burr and Democrat Kay Hagan — find themselves rowing against the tide of tobacco regulation this week, with few other colleagues willing to man the oars.

The two were among only 11 “no” votes on a key procedural motion that allowed debate on a sweeping tobacco regulation bill to go forward. There were 84 “yes” votes.

That measure, HR 1256: Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, is expected to get a final nod from the Senate this week. It would allow the Food and Drug Administration to regulate the packaging, marketing and other aspects of tobacco products.

Burr and Hagan want to offer a rewrite of the bill that would place tobacco regulation under a separate federal agency. But it’s unclear whether that idea will get a vote, much less attract any broad-based backing.

“This is being sold as a public health bill. I have been now to the floor for over 3 1/2 hours in the balance of this week suggesting it does not meet that threshold,” Burr said Thursday.

Hagan is in a particularly peculiar position. She is the only Democrat to vote “no” on the test vote, and she is bucking the leadership of the Senate Democrats as well as people she has named as friends and mentors, such as New Hampshire Democrat Jeanne Shaheen.

“There is no question that one of the most important steps the Senate can take to improve health and to reduce costs is to reduce the use of tobacco. That’s why this legislation is so important,” Shaheen argued during debate last week. In her remarks, she pointed to the flavors tobacco companies use to make their products more palatable.

Those flavors are cited as a key reason for regulation by backers of the bill. But that potential regulation is feared by companies such as Greensboro-based Lorillard, which derives the majority of its business from menthol-flavored cigarettes.

“Tobacco companies also attract children to their products by using flavors -- flavors such as Twista Lime or Kauai Kolada, which says it contains ‘Hawaiian hints of pineapple and coconut,’ or Winter Mocha Mint,” Shaheen said. “Doesn’t sound like we are talking about tar-filled cigarettes, does it? It sounds like we are talking about ice cream or candy.”

Still, Hagan stood up for the loyal, if lonely, opposition.

“Clearly, we have to do something to prevent youth smoking,” Hagan said. “But the bill before us goes much, much further than that. It grants the FDA extremely broad authority to take actions that it considers to be in the interest of public health. That is an interesting standard — especially when you consider that cigarettes, when used as intended, are a dangerous, unhealthy product. I know that, you know that.

“Given that cigarettes are an unhealthy product, asking the FDA to take actions in the interest of public health puts them in a very difficult position. It creates a practically unprecedented regulatory conundrum for the FDA which will require them to go much farther than the stated mission of reducing youth smoking.”

Debate on the bill is expected to continue today.

SENATE VOTES

The vote on the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act was the Senate's only recorded vote.

HOUSE VOTES

Among the votes in the House last week:

HR 31: To provide for the recognition of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina. The measure would grant federal recognition to the Lumbee tribe but prohibit gambling on tribal lands. North Carolina would retain jurisdiction over criminal offenses on tribal lands.

It passed 240-179 and now goes to the Senate.

Republican Howard Coble and Democrats Brad Miller and Mel Watt voted for the bill.

Republican Virginia Foxx voted against.

HR 626: Federal Employees Paid Parental Leave Act. The measure provides that four of the 12 weeks of parental leave made available to a federal employee shall be paid leave.

The measure was approved 258-154 and now goes to the Senate for approval.

Miller and Watt voted yes.

Coble and Foxx voted no.

NOTABLE

Other notes of interest from the Triad’s delegation in Washington:

Gov. Bev Perdue is scheduled to head to Washington this week. According to her official schedule, Perdue will “meet with Congressional delegation, Secretary of Transportation and White House officials.”

According to Perdue spokeswoman Chrissy Pearson, federal recovery funds will also be among the topics for discussion.

“Gov. Perdue will meet with Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood to reiterate her concern for funding the replacement of the Yadkin River Bridge,” Pearson wrote in an e-mail.

Coble and Foxx were given nods by the American Conservative Union for their voting records.

Miller and Rep. Walter Jones, a North Carolina Republican, introduced the Servicemembers’ Rights Protection Act, which would ensure legal protection for military members whose assignments abroad hinder them from meeting financial obligations at home.

“Our military men and women should not have to worry about whether their residences will be foreclosed on or whether their families will be evicted from their homes while serving their country overseas,” Miller said. “A right that cannot be enforced is no right at all. The SCRA must have real teeth or it’s meaningless.”

Contact Mark Binker at (919) 832-5549 or mark.binker@news-record.com