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Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act of 2025

Floor Speech

Date: Nov. 20, 2025
Location: Washington, DC

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Ms. ALSOBROOKS. Mr. President, I thank Senator Welch and Senator Marshall and my colleagues who are here today and all the members of the Senate Agriculture Committee for their bipartisan work on this legislation.

This legislation rightfully provides more options for parents, students, and teachers, which will benefit our children and their families. Specifically, this legislation will allow schools to provide whole milk, but it also makes it easier for parents to request that their child be provided with a milk alternative, if their child suffers from lactose intolerance.

I do, however, remain concerned about the continued classification of lactose intolerance as a disability. I want to be clear that this issue predates the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act, and the bill does not create this problem.

Lactose intolerance of some degree affects more than 50 percent of the population. The classification of lactose intolerance as a disability can cause confusion for parents, who would not refer to their lactose intolerant child as having a disability, especially given the high prevalence of lactose intolerance. So they may not realize that they can write a letter asking for their child's school to provide a milk alternative, and it creates an undue stigma.

I want to thank my colleagues and their teams for their receptiveness to my concerns.

I especially want to say thank you so much to Senator Welch and also to Senator Marshall, and for the discussions that we and our teams have had around them.

After those discussions, I understand why my colleagues prefer not to use the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act as the vehicle to address these concerns, and therefore, I agreed to lift my hold on the bill in exchange for a commitment from my colleagues to work with me to find an appropriate legislative solution to address this longstanding problem.

Again, I want to thank my colleagues and the members of the Senate Agriculture Committee for their work on this bill that ensures that schools will provide healthy milk and milk alternative options for our children.

I look forward to working with you to further support the children and families in all of our States.

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