Across America parents of newborns are scrambling because infant formula has to be rationed – if it’s available at all. It’s unthinkable to me that this could be happening in present-day America, and yet here we are. But would you believe me if I told you that this latest crisis was completely avoidable?
This February, Abbott Laboratories recalled infant formula produced in its Sturgis, Michigan facility, which produces approximately 16% of baby formula in the U.S. By that time, it should have been abundantly clear to White House officials of the crisis that already existed in the supply chain and there should have been dramatic action taken to ensure an adequate supply. The truth is, whistleblowers were telling the White House 4 months earlier that there were problems occurring at the Michigan plant. As soon as concerns were identified, Biden’s FDA should have put a plan in place to bolster supply in the event of a baby formula shortage. Instead, all we got was more incompetence.
Baby formula is a crucial basic survival item for millions of American families. The office of the U.S. Surgeon General estimates that families spend $1,200 to $1,500 on infant formula in the first year -- and that was before there was a formula shortage and an inflation crisis driving up prices. With the supply of formula dwindling, families will be forced to spend even more on formula in their child’s first year of life. It is devastating for a family to absorb such a costly blow when all they want to do is feed their baby.
This situation cannot continue. That is why I joined 106 of my colleagues in writing President Biden and his FDA Commissioner Robert Califf to demand immediate action to fix this problem. In response, the FDA finally began marshalling together resources to import infant formula from overseas, but their delay means it could be months before many families see improvement on their grocery shelves.
This week, while touring a newly-renovated Harps grocery store in Thayer, Missouri down in Oregon County, I saw first-hand the dire situation families face. At Harps, families were limited to purchasing four bottles of infant formula at any one time to conserve enough for all families. Rationing of critical food supplies should never happen in our country.
Shockingly, after Washington bureaucrats mismanaged this crisis from the outset, Washington Democrats’ proposed rewarding government agencies with an additional $28 million – no strings attached. There was no requirement with that money that the FDA provide even so much as a plan to Congress. $23 million of this money went towards FDA staff salaries. So not paying government employees enough was the problem here? I was outraged that this would be the response and opposed this ludicrous bill.
A better solution, which I was proud to support, required the FDA to actually produce a plan to address this shortage and prevent for future ones. I was also one of the first to support the Access to Baby Formula Act that removed government red tape which was currently requiring those on the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program to purchase only a very specific brand of formula. This legislation passed on a bipartisan basis and is the kind of solution Americans want to see during a crisis of this sort – getting government out of the way to make sure American families have access to as many options as possible.
With the sheer number of crises our country is facing, Americans – and Missourians – desperately want leadership. They want Washington Democrats – who control the U.S. House, the Senate, and the White House – to stop with their partisan, Big Government solutions and come together to fix the problem. Unfortunately, the folks at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue don’t appear to know how.
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