So much of the discourse around the Affordable Care Act reduces the bill to the insurance exchanges, or—if a bit more accurate—the insurance-related portions writ large. But the bill was much broader, with regulations and funding related to hospitals, public health, and wellness. It covered many different facets of health.
One of the many oft-forgotten provisions is the one that required restaurants to post calorie information on their menus. The FDA issued its regulations in November 2014 but then delayed them after bipartisan blowback.
Today, the House voted to delay and weaken these regulations with the so-called Common Sense Nutrition Disclosure Act of 2015. When politicians start talking “common sense,” perk up, because they’re often trying to deceive you.
In particular, the bill extends the delay of the regulations by two years and then allows restaurants to avoid posting calorie information by posting it online or on a smartphone app instead. Basically, the bill wants to allow restaurants to hide information from you.
Obama has already said that he would veto the bill.
It passed nevertheless 266 to 144.
233 Republicans and 33 Democrats voted for it. 143 Democrats and 1 Republican—Tom Massie (KY-04)—voted against it. John Yarmuth (KY-03) voted present.
Who were the 33 Democrats?
Pete Aguilar (CA-31)
Brad Ashford (NE-02)
Sanford Bishop (GA-02)
Cheri Bustos (IL-17)
G. K. Butterfield (NC-01)
Tony Cardenas (CA-31)
Lacy Clay (MO-01)
Emanuel Cleaver (MO-05)
Jim Costa (CA-16)
Henry Cuellar (TX-28)
Pete DeFazio (OR-04)
Mike Doyle (PA-14)
Gwen Graham (FL-02)
Bill Keating (MA-09)
Joe Kennedy (MA-04)
Ron Kind (WI-03)
Stephen Lynch (MA-08)
Doris Matsui (CA-06)
Patrick Murphy (FL-18)
Richard Neal (MA-01)
Beto O’Rourke (TX-16)
Collin Peterson (MN-07)
Dutch Ruppersberger (MD-02)
Loretta Sanchez (CA-46)
David Scott (GA-13)
Kyrsten Sinema (AZ-09)
Albio Sires (NJ-08)
Mark Takai (HI-01)
Bennie Thompson (MS-02)
Paul Tonko (NY-20)
Filemon Vela (TX-24)
Tim Walz (MN-01)
Pete Welch (VT-AL)
Cathy McMorris Rodgers offered an amendment to make sure that businesses will not be penalized for inadvertent human error in preparation or variation of ingredients. This seems like something that could easily be exploited.
It passed easily 309 to 100, with Yarmuth again voting present.
76 Democrats joined Republicans in voting for it. All but 3 of the group that voted for the final bill also voted for the amendment. The 3 exceptions were Cleaver, Thompson, and Welch.
46 additional Democrats then voted for the amendment:
Alma Adams (NC-12)
Joyce Beatty (OH-03)
Julia Brownley (CA-26)
John Carney (DE-AL)
Andre Carson (IN-07)
Matt Cartwright (PA-14)
David Cicilline (RI-01)
Jim Clyburn (SC-06)
Gerry Connolly (VA-11)
Jim Cooper (TN-05)
Susan Davis (CA-53)
Tammy Duckworth (IL-08)
Bill Foster (IL-11)
John Garamendi (CA-03)
Gene Green (TX-29)
Janice Hahn (CA-44)
Denny Heck (WA-10)
Hank Johnson (GA-04)
Derek Kilmer (WA-06)
Ann Kirkpatrick (AZ-01)
Ann Kuster (NH-02)
Dan Lipinski (IL-03)
Dave Loebsack (IA-02)
Zoe Lofgren (CA-19)
Ben Lujan (NM-03)
Sean Maloney (NY-18)
Jerry McNerney (CA-09)
Gregory Meeks (NY-05)
Grace Meng (NY-06)
Seth Moulton (MA-06)
Rick Nolan (MN-08)
Donald Norcross (NJ-01)
Bill Pascrell (NJ-09)
Ed Perlmutter (CO-07)
Scott Peters (CA-52)
David Price (NC-04)
Raul Ruiz (CA-36)
Cedric Richmond (LA-02)
Tim Ryan (OH-13)
Kurt Schrader (OR-05)
Bobby Scott (VA-03)
Terri Sewell (AL-07)
Brad Sherman (CA-30)
Mike Thompson (CA-05)
Dina Titus (NV-01)
Norma Torres (CA-35)
