mr. speaker , i thank the gentleman for yielding me this time , and i want to applaud him for maintaining a size 36 over the years ; and i will decline to share my dress size with the nation . 
mr. speaker , i rise to support the rule and the underlying bill , h.r. 554 , also known as the personal responsibility in food consumption act , and sometimes fondly referred to , as the gentlewoman from california ( ms. matsui ) xz4006631 said , the cheeseburger bill . 
mr. speaker , our nation is a nation of freedom . 
liberty , individuality , and personal choice are all critical ingredients . 
a recipe for self-reliance , individual responsibility , and choice has been handed down from generation to generation . 
that is why it is so distasteful to see a handful of greedy people trying to strike it rich by attacking the american food industry . 
the blame-obsessed legal system has increasingly tried to poison the restaurant business with frivolous lawsuits . 
our food industry actually employs about 12 million people . 
it is the nation 's largest single private sector provider . 
it provides a legal product , and it provides it in a legal way . 
and now , because of the avarice of a few , it has become a huge target with a huge bull's-eye on its back . 
mr. speaker , most restaurants are small businesses that contribute to their community in literally countless ways . 
what is more , many of them are too small to defend themselves against out-of-control , deep-pocketed trial attorneys who want to file lawsuits against them , who see them as just another target , perhaps see them as just another atm machine . 
i am proud to support this rule and proud to support h.r. 554 , which prohibits profiteering from groundless claims about weight gain , to protect our vital food and restaurant industry , to help defend our economy and american jobs , and to support the fundamental tenets of our nation : personal choice , liberty , and freedom . 
mr. speaker , i am obviously a pretty good customer of the restaurant industry , but i also recognize that with democracy comes responsibility , the responsibility of citizens to make the right decisions for themselves and the responsibility of a government to stop those who seek to hurt fine american businesses for a drive-thru , fast windfall . 
i urge my colleagues to support this rule and the underlying bill . 
