Members of Congress returned to Washington this week following a two-week district work period and will spend the rest of the week trying to finalize a spending bill to fund the federal government through the remainder of fiscal year 2017, which ends September 30. The current stop-gap funding bill expires at midnight this Friday, so lawmakers will have until then to either enact a comprehensive spending bill or adopt another short-term continuing resolution. If they fail to do either, the federal government will shut down. 

IDFA and the National Milk Producers Federation have jointly asked congressional leaders to include a provision in the final FY 2017 funding package that would allow schools to seek exemptions from current U.S. Department of Agriculture regulations that require all flavored milk served in schools to be fat free. If included, this provision would allow low-fat flavored milk back into schools for the coming school year.

“There is bipartisan support in both the House and Senate for measures like this that could increase milk consumption among school-aged children,” said Dave Carlin, IDFA senior vice president of legislative affairs and economic policy. “We’re continually working with Congress to support legislation to help schools expand these milk options and encourage increased consumption.”

For more information, contact Carlin at dcarlin@idfa.org.