Following passage of H.R. 1147, the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act that passed the House with a bipartisan 330 to 99 vote, the parallel bill was blocked in the Senate.  Senator Roger Marshall (R-KS) failed in his attempt to receive unanimous consent on the Senate floor for the Bill that would have restored whole milk in school feeding.

The objection raised by Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Chair of the Senate Agricultural Committee, was based on an attempt to override dietary guidelines by legislation.  The American Heart Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and many other public health advocates recommend low-fat milk as the most healthy source of calcium and protein for children.

Predictably the Bill was solidly supported by dairy groups and members of the House, one of whom, Representative Chellie Pingree (D-ME) is herself a dairy farmer.  In his address to the U.S. Senate, Sen. Marshall waxed eloquent over the nutritional value of whole milk. In contrast public health and nutritional science do not support his simplistic assertions that were essentially designed to support the dairy industry and his constituents. It would appear that many members of the House are now self-appointed dieticians and public health experts whereas recently they appeared to be gynecologists.