Business Leaders Take Aim at Food and Beverage Policies Posing Impediment to Growth

In response to an Office of Management and Budget (OMB) request, the Business Roundtable and The Business Council have prepared a report with a list of laws and regulations that the nation’s business leaders reportedly believe “have a dampening effect on economic growth and job creation.” Among the business groups’ concerns are proposals that would affect how the food and beverage sectors conduct business. Titled “Policy Burdens Inhibiting Economic Growth,” the report cited Food and Drug Administration food labeling policies, proposals to increase beverage taxes, pending changes to food safety laws, proposed nutrition standards, and youth marketing initiatives as areas of particular concern.

OMB Watch, an organization dedicated to “equitable regulatory and budgetary processes,” questioned the timing of the White House invitation, claiming that recent economic and environmental catastrophes were due to lax regulation and not “because government has been too zealous.” Acknowledging that OMB may have initiated the dialogue as a “political calculus—a bone thrown to cranky executives upset with the Obama administration’s efforts to cure some of America’s ills, in order to get Big Business off Obama’s back,” the watchdog warned that efforts to pursue the Business Roundtable’s suggestions would “risk tearing major holes in the public safety net,” and send “a signal to the American public that government is not on their side.” See OMB Watch, July 16, 2010.