WASHINGTON _ Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell promises legislation later this month to raise the legal age for purchasing tobacco to 21. But a group of Republican and Democratic senators are embracing an alternative amid worries the Kentucky Republican's bill may be too favorable to the tobacco industry.
Republican Sens. Mitt Romney of Utah and Todd Young of Indiana on Wednesday said they're backing legislation that would lift the purchase age from 18 to 21. The bill, also sponsored by Democratic Sens. Brian Schatz of Hawaii and Dick Durbin of Illinois, is "clean, it is simple, it is free of loopholes," Schatz said.
It's also earned the endorsement of the advocacy group, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, which has held off endorsing McConnell's legislation because it hasn't yet seen the bill.
