Republicans came out swinging against the Biden administration’s inaction on the baby formula crisis, saying parents are forced to gamble with their children’s health because of the persistent shortage of formula.
“We shouldn’t be rationing formula to keep babies fed,” Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Washington Republican, told reporters while flanked by a group of her GOP colleagues. “I talked to one mom who has a baby with allergies, and it’s extremely difficult. She feels like she’s playing Russian roulette as she goes to the store.”
It’s the latest wrinkle in President Biden’s domestic leadership that is being challenged by record-high gas prices and the highest inflation in roughly four decades.
The Republican lawmakers said the Food and Drug Administration needs to provide more transparency and solutions. Data has shown that baby formula is down more than 40%.
Rep. Mike Waltz, Florida Republican, said the shortage made it harder for parents to find baby formula than it is for those with substance abuse issues to find drugs, a reference to the administration’s federal grant program to help addicts obtain safe crack-smoking kits and supplies.
“I think we need to take a moment and think about the fact that in Joe Biden’s America, it seems like it’s easier to get a crack pipe in a government-funded smoking kit than it is to find baby formula,” Mr. Waltz said, who is a father of a four-month-old baby.
SEE ALSO: Biden to speak with retailers, manufacturers amid nationwide baby formula shortage
Rep. Elise Stefanik, New York Republican and chair of the House Republican Conference, did not rule out calling on invoking the Defense Production Act, a wartime power at the president’s discretion, to quickly replenish baby formula supplies.
• Ramsey Touchberry can be reached at rtouchberry@washingtontimes.com.
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