Even Dr. Seuss’s Grinch had a change of heart. So let’s get to work calling our Senators in Every-Who-Ville!

The House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed H.R. 1147, The Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act 330-99 on Dec. 13. Senator Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) put forward a unanimous consent motion for a Senate vote on Dec. 14 in the hopes of delivering the Whole Milk bill to the President’s desk for Christmas, but this motion was blocked by Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.). Marshall has an identical Senate Bill S. 1957 referred to the Senate Ag Committee of which he is a member and she is the chair. That bill has 12 total sponsors from 10 states. We need more. Make your lists and check them twice, Call and find out if YOUR Senators will be naughty or nice!

 

By Sherry Bunting, Farmshine, December 22, 2023

‘Twas the day before Recess

And all through THE HOUSE,

The Representatives were stirring,

Some as if they saw a mouse.

 

The amendments had been laid

By the Speaker’s desk with great care

In hopes that healthy choices

Of Whole Milk for kids would be there.

 

The bipartisan support was nestled

All snug in cosponsorship,

While opponents spoke of ‘experts’

And hurled their ‘expert’ admonishments.

 

Opposers, few, with empty platitudes

And supporters, many, full of truth

Had just settled in for 

A long hour of dispute.

 

Then what to my wondering eyes

And ears should appear?

But the words, and the vote 

We had — for so long — waited to hear.

 

Whole Milk for Healthy Kids 

Won the House vote

Three Hundred Thirty to Ninety-Nine,

But when a whole-milk-drinking Doctor 

From Kansas over in the Senate began to opine

It was Senator Grinch from Michigan 

Who crushed his bill sweetly on the vine.

 

“My esteemed colleague is making me hungry,”  

Said Senator Grinch with a sugary smile.

“He’s reminding me of growing up with 

Cookies and milk,” she giggled all the while.

 

“I grew up with a family of dairy farmers,” 

Said Senator Grinch, Chairwoman of Ag.

“I certainly support milk and the dairy industry,” 

She said, tucking the Kansan’s milk bill into her bag.

 

“This is an important conversation 

To have and continue having,” she grinned,

Putting it to bed.

… But Senator Grinch, we must tell you

This conversation, for 10 long years,

We have had and have had and have had!

 

Make no mistake, 

The smiling Senator Grinch did say

She fully supports healthy options for kids 

And lauded milk and dairy that day.

“But one thing is clear,” she said,

As her eyes began to narrow and jaw firmly set.

“Those school standards for children, 

They are and should continue on dietary science to be set.”

 

But wait, what else to my wondering 

Eyes and ears did appear?

A recorded memory of Villain Vilsack 

In 2015 (at a House hearing to be clear.)

“I wish there were scientific facts, 

But this is about well-informed opinions”

That’s how we do Dietary Guidelines, my dear.

He talked of preponderance 

Of evidence and such.

He said: ‘Oh no’ we can’t include 

Diets that treat obesity so much.

 

He said: “These Guidelines are not 

What you shall, but what you should,

These guidelines,” he said,  

“Are something we think is good

For you to consider, but yes, 

People will make choices too.”

 

You can choose. I can choose,

That’s true, you see,

Unless you are a child in school 

Eating meals two of three

Each day of each week 

Nine months or more each year.

If you are that child, 

Then no choices for you, my dear.

 

But don’t fret and don’t fear!

You may choose low-fat 

And fat-free, 

And a plethora of drinks 

Sweetened artificially. 

Your choice can be fruity, fizzy 

And caffeinated too! 

You can choose what you want

If federal bureaucrats agree with you!

 

So pop-tarts, chips, cookies, 

Doritos, donuts, go ahead!

But whole milk for kids, 

Government bureacrats want 

That deal to be dead!

 

As Senator Grinch from Michigan 

Reminded us all that day,

She grew up in a family of dairy farmers, 

And supports you all to say

Milk is good and is great, to be sure

But Guidelines ARE supreme

And children must obey!

 

“We should not be supporting 

Individual food products 

That are in our states,” 

The Michigan Grinchwoman of Ag

Did scold with a finger wag.

But isn’t Michigan the #5 MILK State?

I wondered aloud, 

Then I remembered their specialties 

Are ultrafiltered, shelf-stable, dairy-based 

With big cheese and ingredient plants

Making them proud.

 

Did Senator Grinch read the bill?

Did she look at the evidence?

Talk to schools, parents or kids, if you will?

She could not have done her homework

Of that I am sure,

Because she said, smiling sweetly,

Just have those conversations some more.

 

And so she went on about USDA, 

Dietary Guidelines and Such.

They are the experts, 

And heed them we MUST

‘They are THE EXPERTS’ 

And they are meeting RIGHT NOW 

To decide for 2025-30 what is best 

In Any-Who-Ville and how!

 

With the sweetness of honey, 

The Ag Grinchwoman did say

All these things as she blocked 

The Senate’s Whole Milk vote that day.

So now it’s up to us.

We need more cosponsors to enter the fray.

We need them from Every-Who-Ville 

That has a Senator today.

 

We need cosponsors from North 

And from South, East and West.

We need them to care that children, 

Parents and schools can choose best.

 

We need them to talk to Senator Grinch 

From Michigan

As only another Senator 

In the Senate really can.

 

We need them to smile sweetly and say,

Shouldn’t children be offered milk

They will drink and not throw away?

 

We hope as Congress return

To Every-Who-Ville this holiday

That they consider the children 

All around them at school and at play,

That they consider their health,

For which whole milk doth provide

Flavor and nutrition, and that they strive

To do better by signing onto this bill right away

The Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act,

Senate Bill S. 1957 by the way.

 

And that perhaps, just maybe, 

We hope and we pray,

Senator Grinch from Michigan’s heart

Can grow 10 sizes – or more – this holiday.

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PHOTO CAPTION: Senator Debbie Stabenow, the Democrat from Michigan who chairs the Agriculture Committee on the Senate side, was certainly all smiles and pleasant as she shut the door on what Senator Roger Marshall, the Republican from Kansas, called “a slam-dunk for American families.” Marshall is a medical doctor, an obstetrician, and member of the Senate Ag Committee. He chugged a glass of whole milk on the Senate floor last Thursday, Dec. 14, before introducing his unanimous consent motion to put the House Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act to a Senate vote the day after it had passed the House of Representatives in an overwhelming 330 to 99 count.

Let’s make our (Senate) lists and check them twice. We need to find out who’s naughty and nice. As Senator Marshall put it, this bill could have been on the President’s desk this week and delivered to farmers and schoolchildren by Christmas. But that special Santa delivery was ultimately blocked by Chairwoman Stabenow. Current sponsors of the Senate’s identical bill, S. 1957 include Senator Marshall, along with Senators Peter Welch (D) of Vermont, Susan Collins (R) and Angus King (I) of Maine, Kirsten Gillibrand (D) of New York, John Fetterman (D) of Pennsylvania, Cindy Hyde-Smith (R) of Mississippi, Ron Johnson (R) of Wisconsin, James Risch (R) and Mike Crapo (R) of Idaho, Chuck Grassley (R) of Iowa, and just this week a new cosponsor signed on, Jim Vance (R) of Ohio.

We need many Senate cosponsors to sign on, especially members of the Senate Ag Committee, and we need Senators motivated to speak with Chairwoman Stabenow, to ask her to please stop putting the agenda of Washington bureaucrats above the health and welfare of America’s children. Let’s keep this momentum going. Call the two U.S. Senators who represent your state and find out if they are naughty or nice. If they need more information, visit 97milk.com and download the handout Why Whole Milk.

If your Senators are already signed on to S. 1957, thank them. If they have not signed on, ask them to consider this level of support for the bill so that it goes to the floor to allow children to choose  milk they will love and consume instead of throwing it away — so the options of whole and 2% milk can be offered by schools instead of only fat-free and 1% low-fat milk. This is about health, nutrition, learning readiness, and the future. C-Span screen capture graphic by Sherry Bunting