Statement: Death of Senator Chafee

Washington, DC - We are deeply saddened to learn of the death of Senator John Chafee this morning. Our nation has lost a true leader, who among his many accomplishments fought passionately to protect our nation’s kids from the deadly addiction of tobacco use. We had the honor of awarding Senator Chafee the CAMPAIGN’s Champion Award earlier this year for his outstanding work to fight youth tobacco use.

Throughout his career, Senator Chafee was a strong advocate for tobacco prevention efforts. He was a leading voice for strong action to protect kids from tobacco long before the issue became popular. With Senator Harkin, he introduced the first bipartisan comprehensive tobacco prevention bill in 1998. Later, he was a key supporter of the McCain legislation, a comprehensive tobacco control bill that was defeated in the Senate last year. More recently, Senator Chafee wrote a letter to Attorney General Janet Reno, urging her to pursue a Department of Justice lawsuit against the tobacco industry in order to recoup the federal health costs associated with tobacco use.

We are grateful to Senator Chafee for his years of work and dedication to this nation. We deeply appreciated his commitment. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family.