Earlier this week, lawmakers in Mississippi overwhelmingly passed an “anti-Bloomberg bill” to stop local communities from copying two of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s signature public health initiatives–limiting portion sizes or forcing restaurants to post calorie counts. Needless to say, Mr. Bloomberg was highly critical of the legislation when he was asked about the bill this morning in an interview on CBS.
“You know, Saturday Night Live couldn’t write this stuff,” Mr. Bloomberg exclaimed. “How can somebody try and pass a law that deliberately says we can’t improve the lives of our citizens? It’s just farce. Nobody would believe it if you wrote it in the book.”
Mr. Bloomberg proceeded to tout his efforts to improve public health.
“Go out in the street and ask anybody, would they roll back the smoking ban? Would they roll back getting lead paint out of classrooms? I don’t think any of these things would get rolled back,” he argued. “The fact of the matter is, in New York City, people live over two years longer than the average across America and over three years longer than they did when we came into office ten years ago.”
However, Mr. Bloomberg did jokingly note one positive aspect from Mississippi’s bill, which is expected to be signed by the governor.”
“I’m happy I’m famous,” he said.
