As the national formula shortage continues, Governors reach out to Biden Administration advocating for action.
Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves and 18 other Governors have joined together to urge President Joe Biden and his administration to find solutions to the baby formula shortage across the country.
“When parents can’t get formula to feed their babies, our supply chain is broken!” Reeves tweeted, adding, “I joined 18 fellow governors in calling on Biden to enact solutions to this crisis including suspending tariffs & trade restrictions on formula, updating label standards, & improving FDA procedures.”
When parents can’t get formula to feed their babies, our supply chain is broken!
I joined 18 fellow governors in calling on Biden to enact solutions to this crisis including suspending tariffs & trade restrictions on formula, updating label standards, & improving FDA procedures. pic.twitter.com/VEtzP0e12y
— Governor Tate Reeves (@tatereeves) May 27, 2022
The Governors urge the Biden Administration to take action that increases formula availability while also addressing underlying regulatory barriers, including temporarily suspending red tape that limits the importation of safe infant formula from foreign countries.
The group goes on to advocate for the following action:
- Immediately suspending all tariffs, quotas, and similar trade restrictions on infant formula until the crisis is abated.
- Immediately updating FDA labeling standards on foreign formula.
- Bringing forward structural changes to the WIC program to encourage choice and competition in formula and other essential products, including allowing WIC recipients to purchase alternative brands.
- Ordering an independent and transparent after-action report of past FDA recall orders, including recommendations on how the FDA inspection and recall process could be improved and expedited to avoid disruption to critical essential goods and nutrients in the future.
“We stand ready to enhance the partnership between our states and the federal government as well as the private and public sectors to assist parents in need,” the Governors state. “Now is the time parents need the assurance that they can provide the basic necessities for their family, and nothing is more critical than infant formula.”
Other officials, including Mississippi Congressman Michael Guest, have announced the launch of a new website parents can access to find baby formula.
RELATED: Guest announces website to help parents find baby formula
Members of the U.S. Senate, including Senator Roger Wicker, are pushing for the FORMULA Act which is intended to fight the current domestic baby formula shortages and strengthen the supply chain so that Americans can feed their babies.
The FORMULA Act would target supply chain disruption by temporarily waiving trade barriers like tariffs and quotas on importation that reduce the supply and increase the price of available foreign-made formula.
You can read the full letter from the Governors below.
Joint Governors Letter to President Biden on Baby Formula Shortage by yallpolitics on Scribd
Sarah Ulmer
