Broccoli Banned by Bush Gets 'Respect' in Health-Care Arguments
March 27 (Bloomberg) -- Broccoli, a nutrient-rich vegetable derided by President George H.W. Bush in 1990, regained some respect in Washington during U.S. Supreme Court arguments on the federal health-care law.
The often steamed cultivar, part of the cabbage family, was mentioned eight times today, as Justice Antonin Scalia, Chief Justice John Roberts and Solictor General Donald Verrilli argued about the reach of insurance mandates during a second day of debate on the law pushed by President Barack Obama.
The United Fresh Produce Association, a trade group for the fruit and vegetable industry, welcomed the attention without weighing in on the debate, an issue in the 2012 campaign. Eating more broccoli may lower medical costs because of its wealth of anti-oxidants, abundant Vitamin C and presence of cancer- fighting nutrients such as sulforaphane and diindolylmethane, said Ray Gilmer, a spokesman for the group.
"From banned in the White House to the chambers of the U.S. Supreme Court," he said. "Broccoli is getting respect."
Scalia and Roberts made references to broccoli as they questioned the requirement for consumers to buy insurance or face a tax. Along the same lines, they said food is something everyone has to buy sooner or later. "Therefore, you can make people buy broccoli," Scalia said, challenging the arguments made by the government's lawyer.
Verrilli, defending the law, said health care and broccoli differ because medical services, unlike food, often are needed unpredictably and often involuntarily.
Bush banned the vegetable from Air Force One and the White House in early 1990, telling reporters he disliked the food since he was "a little kid and my mother made me eat it."
"I'm president of the United States, and I'm not going to eat any more broccoli!" he declared on March 22, 1990.
To contact the reporter on this story: Alan Bjerga in Washington at abjerga@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jon Morgan at jmorgan97@bloomberg.net
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