Sen. Justice co-sponsors bill to put whole milk back in school cafeterias
U.S. Sen. Jim Justice (R-WV) speaks to reporters at the U.S. Capitol on March 25, 2025 in Washington, DC (Kevin Dietsch | Getty Images)
Whole milk could return as an option in school cafeterias, according to a bill supported by Sen. Jim Justice.
The Republican Senator from West Virginia signed on as co-sponsor of the 'Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act of 2025.'
'I am proud to be a co-sponsor of this bill [and] glad to see it pass out of committee! Whole milk is vital to children's growth and bone strength. It is time to bring it back in schools!' Justice posted Wednesday on X.
The bipartisan bill aims to reintroduce whole milks and 2% milk to schools participating in the National School Lunch Program.
The measure also has the support of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who tweeted in March that his administration is 'encouraging programs to switch from low-fat dairy – which the antiquated Dietary Guidelines require them to promote — to full-fat/whole milk.'
Current guidelines from the United States Department of Agriculture require schools to offer fat-free and low-fat milk, flavored and unflavored, to kindergarten through twelfth grade students.
Whole and reduced-fat (2%) milk were removed from school menus in 2012 under the Obama administration to limit saturated fat consumption and calorie consumption among children.
Recent research suggests that kids who drink whole milk could be less likely to be overweight or develop obesity than children who drink reduced-fat milk.
'Milk is an important part of a balanced diet that delivers critical nutrients students need for growth and development. It makes sense for National School Lunch Program operators to have the authority to offer this healthful beverage to students during the school day,' said Sen. John Boozman, (R-AR). I'm proud to lead the committee in advancing this bipartisan solution to expand milk options and encourage increased dairy consumption while supporting America's hardworking dairy producers,'
The U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, which Boozman chairs, advanced the measure on Tuesday. Justice is also a member of the committee. The bill now heads to the full Senate for consideration.
The measure also authorizes parents or legal guardians, in addition to licensed physicians, to provide a written statement for their student to receive a nondairy substitute for fluid milk at school.
Nearly every West Virginia county provides free breakfast and lunch to students regardless of income due the state's high poverty level.
SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
12 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Cuts to care: The price mothers and children will pay
HONOLULU (KHON2) — Congress continues to discuss possible cuts to Medicaid and many in Hawaii are concerned about the potential impacts. Some officials warn pregnant women and children could be hit the hardest. Those who rely on the service for themselves and their children also fear the worst. On Aug. 8, 2023, wildfires rip through the Lahaina community forcing thousands to flee. Mairey Garcia, then 10 weeks pregnant with her second child, made it out alive with her husband and daughter. Wanted man arrested after 'crime spree' leads to officer-involved shooting 'We live in Maui, for almost 16 years,' she said. 'Thinking and looking back after the fire, I don't want to think about it anymore.' They lost everything. Uprooting her family and relocating after the devastation on Maui she dealt with so many stressors and the added responsibility of another baby on the way. Garcia said having Aloha Care medical coverage was a huge weight off her shoulders. 'It's the only thing I have that time to support my babies and my family as well, because I can't afford to get a medical,' she Feb. 23, 2024 she gave birth to a healthy baby girl. 'Aloha Care has been there for me from the very start. It's been a blessing for me,' Garcia said. She is not alone. According to Aloha Care CEO Francoise Culley-Trotman, 1,500 moms delivered babies last year covered by Aloha Care. With 70,000 members it's the states second largest medicaid-medicare health plan. But if a bill to cut more than $600 billion in funding for Medicaid passes congress in the coming weeks, many will lose that lifeline. Download the free KHON2 app for iOS or Android to stay informed on the latest news 'The Republican tax bill makes the biggest cuts to Medicaid in history, meaning many people on Med-QUEST will lose coverage and hospitals and clinics may be forced to reduce services or close altogether,' U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz said in a statement. 'These cuts will disproportionately impact pregnant women and children.' 'This issue goes beyond just our membership or even the Quest recipients to what happens to our state and our ability to take care of people,' Culley-Trotman explained. She said cuts this extreme will increase preterm births and impact the long term health of mothers. 'Just an overall worsening of maternal and infant statistics in our state,' she added. For Garcia, it's personal. She worries about what will happen to her family and had this message for lawmakers. 'Please don't pass the bill,' she said. 'Because a lot of people need help and and rely on this program.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
12 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Editorial: Another UN failure — US had to veto a lopsided resolution that would not bring peace to Gaza
We wish that Elise Stefanik was sitting at the large C-shaped table in the UN Security Council chamber over on the East Side on Wednesday, where she would have ripped apart the fecklessness of the diplomats (from both friend and foe) who lined up to do the bidding of Hamas in support of a lopsided resolution that had to be vetoed by the United States. But due to D.C. politics and the narrowness of the Republican control of the House, Stefanik remains a congresswoman from upstate and is not the U.S. ambassador and the veto task fell to Chargé d'Affaires Dorothy Shea, a career Senior Foreign Service officer. Shea cast her veto, making for a 14-1 tally and correctly killing the resolution, which called for a ceasefire in Gaza without blaming Hamas, who started the fighting by launching the Oct. 7 onslaught against Israel and can stop the fighting by freeing the hostages, giving up, disarming and leaving Gaza. The way to peace is simple: get Hamas out and get aid in. They are stealing the supplies being shipped to the needy Palestinians in the territory. Hamas started this horrible situation by launching the Oct. 7 surprise attack on Israel, the deadliest day for Jews since Hitler's genocidal 1,000-year Reich was destroyed by the heroic soldiers and airmen of the Red Army and the Western Allies. Hamas has been defeated by Israel. Hamas has lost the war, but they are not willing to surrender and they are prolonging the agony for the innocent Palestinians by using them as human shields. The U.S., Egypt and Qatar have been conducting peace talks for months. Israel keeps saying yes, while Hamas keeps saying no, as recently as this past weekend. The U.S. policy has been consistent since Oct. 7: Hamas is the cause of the bloodshed and the suffering and any UN resolution must assign them the blame. The Biden administration vetoed prior Security Council resolutions that failed to condemn Hamas and now the Trump administration is continuing to do so. The Security Council cannot be allowed to deliver Hamas a propaganda victory, while in the real world, the terrorists refuse to accept a way out that the negotiators are offering. There was some hope for a breakthrough when Israel killed Hamas honcho Mohammed Sinwar last week, the younger brother of Yahya Sinwar, the fiend who masterminded Oct. 7 and who was killed last October. But this UN vote, which the Hamas champions will heap blame on Washington for, will only make a getting deal take that much longer and that means more suffering for the people of Gaza who have suffered under years of cruel Hamas dictatorship and now a war started by Hamas. But that's to be expected from the UN, which still hasn't labeled Hamas as a terror organization. As for what's happening in Gaza while the UN dickers, Hamas terrorists hide in their tunnels and ordinary Palestinians pay for their intransigence. There are still 58 Israeli hostages being held by Hamas, now for 608 days. The way forward is clear for Hamas: lay down your weapons, release the hostages and leave Gaza behind to be rebuilt. The Hamas legacy of death and suffering has to end. The UN is only postponing that day. _____
Yahoo
12 minutes ago
- Yahoo
State budget rolls through Republican-led Senate
It took four hours of debate over 20 amendments, but a $15.4 billion two-year state budget proposal easily cleared the state Senate Thursday. Senate Finance Committee Chairman James Gray, R-Rochester, said his committee's proudest achievement is the reversal of more than $160 million in unpopular cuts made by the House of Representatives to Medicaid providers and those relying on community mental health and developmental disability services. 'We made some tough choices with limited resources,' Gray said. Relying on rosier estimates for future state revenues, the Senate proposal spends nearly $250 million more than the House's. Senate Democratic Leader Rebecca Perkins Kwoka of Portsmouth praised the Senate Republicans for making those changes, but she said working families are hurt in other parts of the budget, which imposes new health care premiums for some families on Medicaid, raids an eight-figure surplus in the state's renewable energy fund and fails to include any new spending for housing. Perkins Kwoka said the state's fiscal problems are the result of Republican governors and legislators voting for repeated cuts in business and unearned income taxes that robbed the state treasury of money it could now use to pay for programs. 'Let's be clear: This is not magically a tight budget year,' Perkins Kwoka said. The Senate passed the spending bill (HB 1) on a 15-9 vote with only Sen. Keith Murphy, R-Manchester, breaking ranks to oppose the measure along with the eight Senate Democrats. Fellow Manchester Republican Sen. Victoria Sullivan joined Murphy and all the Democrats opposing the trailer bill to the state budget (HB 2) that makes the necessary changes in state law to implement the budget; it passed the Senate, 14-10. Senate President Sharon Carson, R-Londonderry, said Senate Democrats had proposed $168 million in higher spending with no corresponding cuts in other parts of the budget. 'This isn't a perfect budget; we have never had a perfect budget, but this is a budget that works for the people of New Hampshire,' Carson said. Democrats targeted EFAs Nearly half of the amendments Senate Democrats tried to make Thursday would have eliminated the expansion of Education Freedom Accounts. If signed into law, the measure would remove income restrictions on eligibility for these taxpayer-paid grants for private, religious, alternative public or home school programs. Sullivan said her family has used EFAs since the Legislature created the program in 2021 and she expressed doubt that the very wealthy would bother seeking what critics call school vouchers. 'There is the middle-class families that are usually not mentioned … the ones who pay all the bills for the state and municipalities and get nothing back,' Sullivan said. 'They do all the paying and this allows them to use their taxpayer money for their own children's education.' Senate Deputy Democratic Leader Cindy Rosenwald said other states that made these vouchers universal ended up with large budget deficits. YDC settlements The Senate rejected an attempt to increase by $50 million spending on settlements for victims of alleged sexual or physical abuse at its youth detention centers. The House set aside $20 million more to the $165 million that lawmakers have already directed to the settlement fund. The Senate budget adds $20 million as well but also would earmark for the fund the proceeds from the sale of the Sununu Youth Services Center in Manchester. State officials estimate that could raise $80 million. Senate Deputy Democratic Leader Cindy Rosenwald said the state can't sell the Sununu Center until construction is complete on a new, treatment-oriented replacement on the grounds of the former Hampstead Hospital. Chuck Miles, a Youth Development Center abuse survivor who works with Justice for YDC Victims, an advocacy group, said the Senate budget falls short. 'The budget passed by the Senate would be devastating for the YDC Settlement Fund and would break the promises made to the victims of horrendous abuse while in the care of the state,' Miles said. 'Survivors came forward with courage, opting for a settlement process over the courtroom to seek closure, accountability and justice, but by falling woefully short on funding and removing the fund's independence, the state is essentially telling victims 'see you in court,'' he said. Landfill regulation The Senate voted 14-9 against an amendment from Sen. David Rochefort, R-Littleton, that tried to remove from the trailer bill changes to the landfill law that will allow a site evaluation committee to declare a 'public benefit' for a new or expanded commercial landfill in the state. 'The potential with this language is to undo local control,' Rochefort said. Sen. Denise Ricciardi, R-Bedford, joined Rochefort in voting for the amendment while Sen. David Watters, D-Dover, joined the rest of the Republicans voting against it. What's Next: The House and Senate next week will name members to a conference committee to be charged with working out differences between their competing budget bills. Prospects: This issue is far from resolved as it's unclear if the GOP-led House will be willing to accept a final compromise that spends much more money than it budgeted. klandrigan@
