One of the most powerful politicians in Washington is not too sweet on Mayor Bloomberg’s plan to ban giant sugary drinks.
House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) scoffed at Bloomberg’s controversial proposal during a Friday news conference.
“I like Mayor Bloomberg, but are you kidding me?” said Boehner when asked about the plan, which has received national attention.
“C’mon, don’t we have bigger issues to deal with than the size of some soft drink that somebody buys?” Boehner asked.
Bloomberg, in his latest effort to make New Yorkers healthier, has suggested a ban on sugary drinks larger than 16 ounces.
Stores that receive letter grades from the city – from restaurants to bodegas – would no longer be able to sell jumbo-size drinks.
Bloomberg, now registered as an Independent, was a former Republican but his plan has received little support from GOP leaders on Capitol Hill.
“You can’t make this stuff up, can you?” Paul Ryan (R-WI) said Thursday on CNBC.
“I gave up pop for Lent three years ago and I haven’t had any since, but do what you want,” Ryan said. “Do what you want with your life.”
Bloomberg has argued that research shows that when people are given larger portions, they almost always consume more.
City officials supported the plan by touting the success of previous fights against trans fats and cigarettes.
Opponents, including soda makers, have slammed the proposal as evidence that the city government has become a “nanny state” with too much power over its citizens’ actions.
(Source: NY Daily News)
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5 Responses
Bloomberg, now registered as an Independent, was a former Republican
No, he wasn’t. He has always been a liberal Democrat, but in 2001 he saw that there was too much competition in his own party’s primary, and almost none in the Republican one, so he decided to contest that instead. That didn’t make him a Republican. I mean, Rush Limbaugh could run in a Democrat primary; nobody could stop him, but it wouldn’t make him a Democrat.
“C’mon, don’t we have bigger issues to deal with than the size of some soft drink that somebody buys?”
Bigger issues to deal with than people dying?!
If Nanny Bloomberg goes thru with this mishigas, I hope he is sued by the Yankees, Mets, Knicks, Rangers, Nets, etc etc and so on.
To paraphrase, government is NOT the solution to our problems, govt IS the problem!
2. People are dying from this? Oh really?!?!?!
OMG!! I just saw someone walk out of (store name removed) with a Coca Cola (name of frozen type drink removed) and he dropped dead after taking a sip!!
THAT is as nonsensical as your comment about people dying from drinking sugary beverages.
Hey! Give the mayor a break! He’s true to his word. He made sure the sanitation dept. wouldn’t clear the snow during the blizzard so that New Yorkers could get some exercise.
Just wondering how many more people died then because of the lack of emergency services than from too much sugar in soda…..