Comments made by the executive branch’s chief medical advisor for alcohol and alcohol abuse are causing an uproar in the conservative world, with politicians and media figures alike denouncing what they see as another example of bureaucrats attempting to “control” Americans’ lifestyle choices. 

The director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, George Koob, was asked by the Daily Mail on August 31 if America might follow Canada’s new guidelines surrounding alcohol consumption, which recommend that people drink only two beers a week. “If there’s health benefits, I think people will start to re-evaluate where we’re at,” Mr. Koob told the outlet. 

The most high-profile denunciation of Mr. Koob’s comments came from Senator Cruz. During an appearance on the Newsmax program of a former Fox News host, Eric Bolling, the Texas Republican railed against Democrats who he claimed “want to control” everything in Americans’ lives. “It is nuts,” Mr. Cruz said when Mr. Bolling asked about Mr. Koob’s remarks. 

“Number one, why does Biden have an alcohol tsar?” the senator asked. “What is it with liberals who want to control every damn aspect of your life? … I’ve got to tell you, if they want us to drink two beers a week, frankly, they can kiss my a—,” the senator said as he opened a beer and drank it live on air. Mr. Cruz also criticized recommendations from the Biden administration that gas stoves be phased out, as well as New York State’s ban on gas stoves in new construction. 

Congressman Tim Burchett, a rising star in the conservative House Freedom Caucus, told Fox News that government officials telling Americans how much or little they should drink is just one more reason why conservative need to show up and vote. 

“This is what happens when 30 million Americans don’t vote,” Mr. Burchett said. “Overpaid unelected bureaucrats sticking their fat noses somewhere it does not belong. … I am a non-drinker, but this is ridiculous. If they want to look at abuse, look at the spending in Washington and the overreach by the White House.”

Senator Ernst said Mr. Koob’s comments are just another “absurd” example of overreach by the Biden administration. 

Congressman Brian Mast likened the potential regulations to Prohibition. “We tried something similar to this before. … There’s a reason we ended it. It was terrible. Let the people drink their beer,” he wrote on X. 

When asked by Fox News’s Peter Doocy about the potential change in guidelines, the White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, asked, “Where is this coming from?” with a smile. “Let me tell you what I’m not gonna get involved in  that question.”

Current guidelines in Canada, which were released by the governing Liberal party earlier this year, state that “consuming more than two standard drinks,” such as beer, “is associated with an increased risk of harms to self and others, including injuries and violence.”