House OKs bill banning all flavored tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, but Trump promises veto

In a 213-195 vote on Friday, the Democratic-led House of Representatives approved a bill that aims to ban all flavored tobacco products, including e-cigarettes.

The measure, known as the Protecting American Lungs and Reversing the Youth Tobacco Epidemic Act, goes beyond the Trump administration’s recent efforts to curb youth vaping, but it doesn’t look likely to become law, with the White House promising to veto it.

“Today, the House stood up and said we will not allow Big Tobacco to prey upon our children with slick new products, purposefully designed to get kids addicted to nicotine,” said Democratic Rep. Frank Pallone of New Jersey, one of the bill’s co-sponsors and the chairman of the House Energy & Commerce Committee, in a statement.

But not all of the House’s 232 Democratic members voted for the bill. The legislation’s “menthol ban could create additional #stopandfrisk occurrences for Black tobacco users,” said Democratic Rep. Yvette Clarke of New York in a tweet explaining her vote against the measure, as she noted that she’s received letters expressing concerns about the bill from the ACLU and the mothers of Trayvon Martin and Eric Garner.