Erik Paulsen: “Minnesota is the proud home to over 100 craft breweries. Many of these breweries are small, but they still provide jobs…”

“Minnesota is the proud home to over 100 craft breweries. Many of these breweries are small, but they still provide jobs and a real impact to our local economies across our great State. There are nearly 5,000 craft brewers across the country. Unfortunately, a provision buried deep within the President's new healthcare law mandates that brewers label every single beer they produce with detailed calorie information. This labeling requirement is projected now to cost $77,000 per brewery. It is a financial burden that will be simply too steep for a lot of brewers who are just trying to get up and running and operating with little or no profit. This is just the latest excessive and onerous burden placed upon small businesses by the President's new healthcare law. Mr. Speaker, Washington should be getting out of the way so that craft breweries have a chance to thrive, not putting up more unnecessary red tape that makes it impossible to do business. It is time to act and repeal this harmful labeling requirement to prevent jobs from being lost, and to allow Americans to continue enjoying their locally produced craft beverage. ____________________”