Political Quotes

“And I rise in opposition to H.R. 772. This bill is completely unnecessary, overly prescriptive, and would deny consumers critical information about the food that they eat. At a time when our country is facing an obesity epidemic--I would say, really, crisis--we should not be undermining efforts to educate consumers about the nutritional value of foods, including calories. As a country, we pay a high price for obesity. It is estimated that medical costs for obesity top $190.2 billion, annually. Childhood obesity alone is responsible for $14 billion in direct medical costs. We should be embracing efforts to reduce this enormous cost to our healthcare system. A Harvard study found restaurant menu labeling could prevent up to 41,000 cases of childhood obesity and could save over $4.6 billion in healthcare costs over 10 years. So if you want to eat pizza and fries, that is great, but why not have the opportunity to know how many calories are in that pizza and fries? You should be able to have that information. More information for consumers is a good thing. The menu labeling law that passed in 2010 requires chain restaurants with 20 or more locations to provide consumers with basic nutritional information like calorie content for standard food and beverage items on menus. Since then, the FDA has been working to implement this rule only to face numerous delays along the way.…”