Joe Biden has announced today that he’s invoking the Defense Production Act to speed up the production of baby formula.
He’s also authorizing commercial flights to bring imports from overseas:
WASHINGTON (AP) — Biden invokes Defense Production Act to boost baby formula production, authorizes flights to bring imports from overseas.
— Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) May 18, 2022
Here’s more from the AP:
President Joe Biden on Wednesday invoked the Defense Production Act to speed production of infant formula and authorized flights to import supply from overseas, as he faces mounting political pressure over a domestic shortage caused by the safety-related closure of the country’s largest formula manufacturing plant.
The Defense Production Act order requires suppliers of formula manufacturers to fulfill orders from those companies before other customers, in an effort to eliminate production bottlenecks. Biden is also authorizing the Defense Department to use commercial aircraft to fly formula supplies that meet federal standards from overseas to the U.S., in what the White House is calling “Operation Fly Formula.”
Supplies of baby formula across the country have been severely curtailed in recent weeks after a February recall by Abbott Nutrition exacerbated ongoing supply chain disruptions among formula makers, leaving fewer options on store shelves and increasingly anxious parents struggling to find nutrition for their children.
The announcement comes two days after the Food and Drug Administration said it was streamlining its review process to make it easier for foreign manufacturers to begin shipping more formula into the U.S.
Biden’s administration has completely botched this issue and I think that speaks volumes to voters. That’s why I think he’s using the DPA to try and get this problem solved, because this is the last thing he needs on top of everything else going wrong ahead of an election where Democrats are widely expected to get trounced.
They’ve known about this issue since last year and just announced a few days ago that they are finally reopening the plant that they closed down. It’s amazing what can get done in an election year…