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To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to require schools to offer a variety of milk to students participating in the school lunch program, and for other purposes.
Summary
The bill amends the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to expand milk options available to students in federally funded school lunch programs. Schools would be required to offer a variety of milk options, including both traditional fluid milk and plant-based milk alternatives. Plant-based milk must meet nutritional standards established by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, or comply with existing USDA nutritional guidelines if already included in those guidelines. The bill removes certain previous restrictions on milk offerings and makes conforming changes to related sections of the school lunch law. The changes give schools greater flexibility in the types of milk they can serve to students while maintaining federally established nutritional standards.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
11 cosponsors
- Del. Norton, Eleanor Holmes [D-DC-At Large] (D-DC)
- Rep. Barragán, Nanette Diaz [D-CA-44] (D-CA)
- Rep. Fields, Cleo [D-LA-6] (D-LA)
- Rep. Levin, Mike [D-CA-49] (D-CA)
- Rep. Lieu, Ted [D-CA-36] (D-CA)
- Rep. Luna, Anna Paulina [R-FL-13] (R-FL)
- Rep. Mace, Nancy [R-SC-1] (R-SC)
- Rep. Mannion, John [D-NY-22] (D-NY)
- Rep. Ross, Deborah K. [D-NC-2] (D-NC)
- Rep. Scott, David [D-GA-13] (D-GA)
- Rep. Thanedar, Shri [D-MI-13] (D-MI)
Money behind the sponsor
Top reported contributors to Troy A. Carter’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.
- NULL $30,950
- OCHSNER HEALTH $19,350
- RIVER BIRCH, LLC $13,200
- AKD LAW $10,800
- CENTRAL MANAGEMENT $10,000
Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for Troy A. Carter → · Outside spending →
Actions (2)
- Apr 1, 2025 Referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce. · house
- Apr 1, 2025 Introduced in House
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Text versions (1)
Bills are re-published as they move (Introduced → Reported → Engrossed → Enrolled …). Each stage below is a separate text; pick two to see what changed. Data from Congress.gov.
Full text
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
April 1, 2025
Mr. Carter of Louisiana (for himself and Ms. Mace) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Workforce
A BILL
To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to require schools to offer a variety of milk to students participating in the school lunch program, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Freedom in School Cafeterias and Lunches Act” or the “FISCAL Act”.
SEC. 2. TYPES OF MILK OFFERED UNDER THE SCHOOL LUNCH PROGRAM.
(a) In General.—Section 9(a)(2) of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758(a)(2)) is amended—
(1) in the heading, by striking “Fluid milk” and inserting “Milk”;
(2) in subparagraph (A)—
(A) in clause (i)—
(i) by striking “fluid milk. Such milk” and inserting “milk, including fluid milk and plant-based milk, which”;
(ii) by inserting “or, in the case of a plant-based milk not included under those guidelines, consistent with nutritional standards established by the Secretary” after “(7 U.S.C. 5341)”; and
(iii) by inserting “and” after the semicolon;
(B) in clause (ii), by striking “; and” and inserting a period; and
(C) by striking clause (iii);
(3) by striking subparagraph (B);
(4) by redesignating subparagraph (C) as subparagraph (B); and
(5) in subparagraph (B) (as so redesignated), in the matter preceding clause (i), by inserting “or plant-based milk” after “fluid milk”.
(b) Conforming Amendments.—
(1) Section 14(f) of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1762a(f)) is amended, in the third sentence, by inserting “or plant-based” before “milk”.
(2) Section 20(c) of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1769b(c)) is amended by striking “fluid”. <all>
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