As Americans grow increasingly unhealthy and overweight, Republicans have better places to aim their fire than the Biden administration’s necessary proposal to limit sugary chocolate milk consumption in schools.
While Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy spars with the White House on the debt ceiling, the No. 3 lawmaker in GOP leadership is waging another crusade. House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, whose Upstate New York district attracts big money from Big Dairy, is leading the charge against changes in federal nutrition standards that threaten chocolate milk in public school cafeterias.
“Elise Stefanik, Republicans Push Back On Biden’s War On Chocolate Milk,” ran the weekend headline from Breitbart.
The paper outlined the GOP effort to thwart a new proposal from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) aimed at reducing childhood sugar consumption. In February, the USDA issued a new rule, with one of its proposed options threatening a ban on flavored milk in elementary and middle school with a limit on chocolate and strawberry flavors in high school.
“This approach would reduce exposure to added sugars and would promote the more nutrient-dense choice of unflavored milk for young children when their tastes are being formed,” reads the agency proposal.
Federal law requires the USDA to develop K-12 nutrition standards in line with the nation’s dietary guidelines. The agency recently placed a cap on added sugars, limiting them to no more than 10 percent of calories. A government report from May last year found about 17 percent of calories in school breakfasts
