In “yet another fight over Obamacare,” the House passed a bill “to weaken an Obama administration regulation to require nutrition information on restaurant menus,” reports The Hill newspaper. All but one Republican voted for the bill and all but 33 Democrats voted against it.
The requirement to include calorie counts on menus was a provision of the 2010 healthcare reform law. “Restaurants would have more discretion to inform customers about the number of calories in the food they sell by posting the information online or in a smartphone app, as opposed to printing them out on menu boards inside their stores,” said The Hill. But it doesn’t exempt grocery stores, convenience stores, or gas stations that prepare and sell food.
The FDA issued regulations to carry out the requirement in November 2014 and later extended the deadline until late this year. The House-passed bill would delay the deadline for two additional years. The White House opposes the House bill but did not threaten a veto.