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WASHINGTON — In the midst of a debate about e-cigarettes on airplanes on Thursday, California Representative Duncan Hunter pulled out a vaporizer and took a drag.

The House Transportation Committee was debating an amendment to the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill at the time. The provision, proposed by District of Columbia Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, would formally ban e-cigarettes on passenger airplanes.

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“First, I’d like to say this,” said Hunter, a Republican. Seated on the panel with his colleagues, Hunter paused to inhale and exhaled a plume of vapor.

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