What a week for vaping ...

Rumors are swirling about the fate of the White House’s proposed flavored e-cigarette ban, following explosiv e reporting from the Washington Post that the administration is abandoning the ban. But what if I told you there’s another branch of government tackling this issue in earnest? Here’s what’s you need to know about Congress’ whirlwind week on e-cigarettes:

Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), the co-chair of the Congress’ anti vaping caucus, is railing on the FDA and the White House explain what’s going on with the flavor ban. He sent a letter yesterday demanding answers. You can read that letter here.
The House Energy & Commerce Committee will today mark up the Reversing the Youth Tobacco Epidemic Act, which would ban the sale of all flavored tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, and increase the nationwide minimum age for buying tobacco to 21, among other changes.
The Congressional Budget Office is out with a new score that projects the Protecting American Lungs Act of 2019, which would impose a new excise tax on e-cigarettes, would save the government nearly $10 billion dollars over 10 years. That bill was passed out of the House Ways & Means Committee late last month.
Oh, and the nominee for FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn is set to testify before the Senate HELP Committee Wednesday. You can bet tobacco regulation will loom large there as well.