{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.welch.senate.gov/welchs-bipartisan-whole-milk-for-healthy-kids-act-passes-senate/", "Welch\u2019s Bipartisan Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act Passes Senate", "2025-11-20", "2025", "2025-11", "Democrat", "Senate", "VT", "Peter Welch", "W000800", "www.welch.senate.gov", "welch", "https://www.welch.senate.gov/category/press-release/page/", "scraper", "Bill will support students and Vermont\u2019s dairy farmers\n\nWASHINGTON, D.C. \u2014 U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.), a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, today celebrated the Senate\u2019s unanimous passage of his bipartisan, bicameral Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act, legislation to support America\u2019s students and dairy farmers.\n\nThe bipartisan bill, co-led with Senator Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), would allow schools participating in the National School Lunch Program to offer students whole milk, in addition to reduced-fat, low-fat, fat-free, lactose-free milk, and non-dairy alternatives. It will now move to the House of Representatives.\n\n\u201cDairy is at the heart of Vermont\u2019s culture and local economy, which is why our bipartisan bill to expand access to whole milk in our schools is a win for Vermont\u2019s students and farmers. Our Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act will help our next generation grow stronger and helps dairy farmers do what they love\u2014feed our communities,\u201d said Senator Welch. \u201cI\u2019m thankful for the support of the Senate on our bipartisan bill and look forward to sending it to the President\u2019s desk.\u201d\n\nBefore the vote, Senators Welch and Marshall took to the Senate floor to highlight the benefits of their bipartisan legislation.\n\n\u201cThis is a very serious thing in two ways: number one, we\u2019ve got to have good nutrition for our kids\u2026and the second reason is that the dairy farming industry\u2014it\u2019s not so much an industry as it is a way of life. And in Vermont, the hardest working people we have are dairy farmers. It\u2019s a hard, hard job. But it\u2019s one where families have done it for generation to generation. There\u2019s an enormous pride in being custodians of the landscape, and caring for the animals and the herd, and in providing nutritious milk to the community. And there\u2019s a lot of pressure on our farmers. And this whole milk bill is an acknowledgment of the extraordinary contribution that the dairy farmers in the state of Vermont make to the entire state of Vermont\u2014that the dairy farmers in America make to all of America\u2026\u201d said Senator Welch on the Senate Floor, after drinking from a glass of whole milk.\n\nWatch the Senator\u2019s full remarks below:\n\nAs Ranking Member of the Senate Agriculture Subcommittee on Rural Development, Energy, and Credit, Senator Welch has championed efforts to support Vermont\u2019s dairy farmers and strengthen the state\u2019s dairy industry. This Congress, Senator Welch reintroduced the Organic Dairy Assistance, Investment, and Reporting Yields Act (O DAIRY) Act, legislation to expand federal support for organic dairy farmers by extending emergency assistance to farmers facing losses due to factors like feed shortages and increased costs.\n\nSenator Welch also recently introduced legislation to help more Americans access SNAP and improve child nutrition, including the Local School Foods Expansion Act, Improving Access to Nutrition Act of 2025, Student Loan Deduction Act of 2025, and the School Lunch Debt Cancellation Act. Last Congress, Senator Welch introduced several bills in the 118th Congress to support Vermont\u2019s dairy, organic, and specialty crop farmers. These bills were included in Senate Democrats\u2019 draft Farm Bill, the Rural Prosperity and Food Security Act.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:52:45Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.welch.senate.gov/welchs-bipartisan-whole-milk-for-healthy-kids-act-passes-senate/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.6874981336295605, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}