Though sometimes it may seem as though Congress is primarily concerned with how much foreign aid it can parcel out, there are occasional exceptions. Case in point, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) has introduced the Interstate Milk Freedom Act of 2024.

In a press release, Massie stated: “Executive branch agencies, such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), do not and should not have the power to shut down trade between peaceful farmers and willing consumers. It is Congress’s job to legislate. The Interstate Milk Freedom Act would make it easier for families to buy the milk of their choice by reversing the criminalization of specific dairy farmers.”

In practice, the Interstate Milk Freedom Act would prevent federal departments, agencies or courts from taking any action to prohibit or restrict the traffic of milk between two states that have legalized the sale of unpasteurized milk.

This is not the first time such legislation has been introduced into Congress. The Milk Freedom Act was introduced as an amendment to the 2018 Farm Bill and was also introduced as stand-alone legislation in 2014, 2015, 2019 and 2021.

While Congress has never passed a law banning the sale of raw milk, the Food and Drug Administration issued a regulation prohibiting the interstate sale of raw milk in response to a lawsuit in 1986.

Massie has been an outspoken critic of police raids of farmers who sell raw milk directly to consumers like the one that took place in January of this year on Amos Miller’s farm in Lancaster County, PA.