Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
House Bill Lets Schools Serve Whole Milk, Reversing 2012 Low-Fat Push
The House has passed a bill allowing whole milk to be served in school cafeterias for the first time since 2012. The Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act, which permits the National School Lunch Program to serve whole milk, passed 330-99 in the House on Wednesday afternoon. It now heads to the Senate. Regulations have stipulated which kinds of milk can be offered in school cafeterias since 2012 when then-First Lady Michelle Obama moved to only permit low-fat milk variations. (Polus, 12/13)
With one day to go until Congress plans to call it quits for the year and members head home for the holidays, the House got down to pressing business on Wednesday, using its precious remaining time to pass legislation to bring whole milk back to America鈥檚 school cafeterias. An emergency aid package to fund the wars in Ukraine and Israel hung in limbo, stymied by a Republican filibuster in the Senate. Bipartisan talks on how to tackle a surge of migration at the U.S. border with Mexico showed no sign of yielding a breakthrough. And lawmakers were facing a daunting time crunch to act on a dozen federal spending measures when they return after New Year鈥檚 Day, at which point they will have just eight working days to avoid a partial government shutdown. (12/13)
But a milk carton shortage continues 鈥
With a shortage of supplies for milk cartons persisting, U.S. Rep. Marc Molinaro (R-N.Y.) is turning attention to the Food Supply Chain Capacity & Resiliency Act he sponsored earlier this year. He said the bill would potentially allow more manufacturers to enter a space that two companies dominate. ... As the shortage may persist longer and access to cartons may be harder to come by, the American Dairy Association Northeast is focused on providing alternatives that will deliver milk in other forms to schools. 鈥淲e have pivoted to other ways they can serve the milk, whether it鈥檚 in gallons and being poured or it鈥檚 in dispensers,鈥 said Donahoe. (Quinn, 12/7)
School districts in New York, Pennsylvania, California, Washington and other states said they were bracing for the supply shortages, which are expected to last into early 2024. Hospitals, prisons and other settings with cafeterias were likely to be affected as well. (Kwai, 11/2)
