Josh Riley Gets Milky With First Cosponsorships
In recent episodes of Josh Riley Watch, I have noted that in the face of a massive, radical, and often criminal transformation of the US federal government, Congressman Josh Riley has been mostly inactive. In particular I have noted that Representative Riley has neglected to introduce or even co-sponsor any legislation.
On Tuesday afternoon, however, Josh Riley’s office on Capitol Hill announced that Riley will be co-sponsoring three pieces of legislation. All three of the bills have to do with promoting the financial interests of the dairy industry.
The first two bills, H.R. 295, the Fair Milk Pricing for Farmers Act, and H.R. 294, the Dairy Farm Resiliency Act, were introduced by Republican Congressman Nick Langworthy.
H.R. 295 would require dairy processors to report their cost and yield information to a centralized government regulatory authority, increasing market transparency and ensuring dairy farmers are paid fairly for their milk.
H.R. 294 would make adjustments to the Dairy Margin Coverage Program, which acts like financial hedge for dairy farms, providing financial support to dairies when the market price of milk falls below profitable levels.
Riley also said that he will be cosponsoring the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act, but no such legislation has yet been introduced to the U.S. House of Representatives. It is likely that the bill will be introduced within the next few days, and that it will be a new version of a bill with the same name that was introduced in 2023, but failed to gain the support of enough legislators to be passed into law.
The purpose of the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act, as introduced in 2023, was to reintroduce whole milk into public school lunches, creating a larger market for dairy businesses. This bill is controversial, with opponents arguing that it prioritizes the financial interests of large commercial dairies over children's health.
The National Alliance for Nutrition and Activity has described the legislation as a dangerous precedent for commercial interference with scientific approaches to child nutrition, "a slippery slope for allowing special interests to carve out exemptions in school meal program rules." The Center for Science in the Public Interest likewise describes the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act as "unwarranted political meddling with evidence-based nutrition standards aimed at protecting kids’ health".
The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine cites scientific research indicating that “Whole dairy milk is high in saturated fat and poses significant health risks to children.” These health impacts include an elevated risk of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity, and dementia.
Reasonable people can disagree about whether drinking whole milk is a good idea for children. While organizations of scientists, physicians, and nutritionists appear to have concluded that the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act is a bad idea, the legislation is not outside of the ideological zone of bills traditionally passed by Congress. For Josh Riley to work with Republicans on bills to strengthen the dairy industry is the kind of sensible bipartisanship that voters would expect from a member of Congress, even if they don’t support the specific legislation.
Josh Riley’s co-sponsorship of dairy industry legislation is not glamorous. It’s just taking care of the business of the country. That makes it a far cry from Josh Riley’s first actions as a new member of the US House of Representatives, with votes to attack the International Criminal Court and scapegoat immigrants while seriously damaging the constitutional right to a fair trial. Those votes could not be described as merely reaching across the aisle. They indicated a dramatic swerve into extremist right-wing politics that are not supported by the progressive Democrats of Ithaca and Tompkins County who made Riley’s 2024 electoral victory possible.
Which version Josh Riley will show up next? Will we get the mild-mannered dairyman or the wild-eyed collaborator with fascism?
Only a fool would make predictions in the current turbulent political climate, but Josh Riley Watch will be… well, watching.
