The ADD SOY Act makes soy milk readily available to any student that desires it by explicitly changing the National School Lunch Program itself. It's actually pretty simple – through a few word changes within the actual regulation that governs who can gain access to substitutes and how, the ADD SOY Act makes it so that:

• Every student who wants soy milk can gain access to it.

• Districts are reimbursed for the soy milk so that offering it doesn’t come at a disadvantage to them.

• Districts/States can’t dodge the regulation change.

The ADD SOY Act has been introduced and referred to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. It would need to “get out” of committee – or have the majority of the committee approve it for a vote – then gain a majority of votes in the House, and then the Senate before becoming a law. There is certainly a long way to go, but that doesn’t mean it's impossible. Even if it has to be reintroduced, shaping support for it in these stages is crucial for its future success.

Congressman Troy A. Carter (D-Louisiana)

Congresswoman Nancy Mace (R-South Carolina)

Oh yeah... it’s bipartisan.

There are certainly other options for bills that either increase access to soy milk or reduce the overall consumption of cow’s milk in the National School Lunch Program. But this bill bipartisan and the legislation ensures that districts will be reimbursed for the soy milk they’d have to purchase – something that no other bill has done. (In terms of bipartisanship, do we really give a crap about appeasing both parties? No, it's all the same party at the end of the day, but it does give the legislation a better shot overall.)