[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 29 (Wednesday, February 24, 2016)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E211]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        H.R. 3442 AND H.R. 2017

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. SUZANNE BONAMICI

                               of oregon

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 24, 2016

  Ms. BONAMICI. Mr. Speaker, I was unable to be in Washington, D.C. on 
the afternoon on February 11th and on February 12th because I was 
attending a memorial service and I missed votes in the House. If I had 
been present, I would have opposed final passage of H.R. 3442, the Debt 
Management and Fiscal Responsibility Act, and H.R. 2017, the Common 
Sense Nutrition Disclosure Act.
  The Debt Management and Fiscal Responsibility Act may sound like a 
common-sense bill, but it is a misguided effort that creates 
duplicative burdens and reporting requirements on the executive branch. 
The bill would require the Secretary of the Treasury to appear before 
Congress when the country nears the statutory debt limit and provide a 
written report on the Treasury's debt-reduction proposals. The 
Administration, however, already provides Congress with an outline of 
its debt-reduction proposals in the President's annual budget. The 
President presented his final budget--which includes numerous debt-
reduction proposals--to Congress just two days ago, but House leaders 
denied the opportunity for the director of the Office of Management and 
Budget to testify about these proposals. Instead, we are considering a 
bill that would create more requirements for the Administration by 
making them duplicate efforts they already undertake. For those 
reasons, I would have voted against H.R. 3442.
  I would have also opposed H.R. 2017, the Common Sense Nutrition 
Disclosure Act. This bill would have allowed certain restaurants and 
food retailers to limit the nutritional information they provide to 
consumers. The nutrition disclosure requirements this bill seeks to 
roll back became law as part of the Affordable Care Act. Preparing to 
comply with those requirements has been a substantial undertaking for 
many retailers, but Congress has already delayed implementation of this 
rule as part of the FY2016 omnibus and given retailers an additional 
year before the rule would go into effect. Making nutrition information 
available empowers consumers to make healthy and nutritious choices, 
and this bill would have further undermined that effort. For that 
reason, I would have voted against H.R. 2017.

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