Courtney Helps Pass Two Bills to Increase the Supply of Baby Formula and Support American Families
Cassidy, Patrick
FOR PLANNING PURPOSES
May 18, 2022
CONTACT
Patrick Cassidy
Communications Director
Courtney Helps Pass Two Bills to Increase the Supply of Baby Formula and Support American Families
WASHINGTON, DC – This evening, Congressman Joe Courtney (CT-02) voted to pass two bills to help address the current urgent shortage of infant formula, and to prevent it from ever happening again. The Infant Formula Supplemental Appropriations Act (H.R. 7790) would provide new emergency funding to restore the supply of infant formula in the United States, and the Access to Baby Formula Act (H.R. 7791) would implement rule-changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) so that families in need can continue purchasing other safe and available infant formula products with WIC benefits during extenuating circumstances or supply chain disruptions. Both bills passed the House this evening on a bipartisan basis.
“Moms and dads with infant children can’t just wait for formula producers to come back online—they need support right now,” said Rep. Courtney. “There’s been some encouraging news in the past twenty-four hours about Abott Nutrition getting themselves up and running again, but it’s still going to take a bit of time before store shelves are fully stocked—this isn’t a light switch. We’re still in an all-hands-on-deck situation, and the two bipartisan bills we passed in the House today will get more infant formula into the hands of families that need it now, ensure we’re restocking our shelves in a safe and efficient manner, and help prevent this type of shortage from taking place again. I was proud to join my colleagues in passing these two crucial, bipartisan bills today.”
The infant formula shortage was caused by a manufacturing recall and subsequent closure of a major manufacturing plant, and was exacerbated by pandemic-related supply chain issues. Specifically, on February 17, Abbott Nutrition—the largest infant formula manufacturer in the country—initiated a voluntary recall of several lines of powdered formula (including Similac, Alimentum, and EleCare) and subsequently closed its large manufacturing facility in Sturgis, MI. The recall and closure of the plant happened because of concerns about bacterial infection at the Sturgis manufacturing facility after four infants fell ill and two died.
Today’s bills will help restore the supply of safe infant formula in the U.S., expand eligible uses of WIC benefits to help vulnerable families access other safe and available forms of infant formula products, and prevent a shortage from happening again.
Highlights of the Infant formula Supplemental Appropriations Act (H.R. 7790):
- Provides $28 million in emergency funding to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for resources to restore the U.S. supply of infant formula in a safe and secure manner
- Provides FDA with resources to prevent fraudulent products from being placed on shelves, and to help acquire better data on the infant formula marketplace and supply chain vulnerabilities
- Funds the balance of necessary FDA activities, strengthens the FDA workforce on formula issues, and increases FDA inspection staff
Highlights of the Access to Baby Formula Act (H.R. 7791):
- Under the current WIC program, there are restrictions on which infant formula products a WIC participant can purchase using WIC benefits. This bill provides USDA the authority to waive certain requirements so that vulnerable families in the WIC program can continue purchasing other safe and available infant formula products with WIC benefits during extenuating circumstances, such as a public health emergency or supply chain disruption
- Ensures that WIC participants are better protected during a product recall
Today, President Biden also announced additional actions to get more formula into the United States and onto store shelves:
- Invoking the Defense Production Act—To ensure that manufacturers have the necessary ingredients to make safe, healthy infant formula here at home, President Biden is invoking the Defense Production Act (DPA). The President is requiring suppliers to direct needed resources to infant formula manufacturers before any other customer who may have ordered that good. Directing firms to prioritize and allocate the production of key infant formula inputs will help increase production and speed up in supply chains
- Launching Operation Fly Formula—To speed up the import of infant formula and get more formula to stores as soon as possible, President Biden has directed the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to use Department of Defense (DOD) commercial aircraft to pick up overseas infant formula that meets U.S. health and safety standards, so it can get to store shelves faster. DOD will use its contracts with commercial air cargo lines, as it did to move materials during the early months of the COVID pandemic, to transport products from manufacturing facilities abroad that have met Food and Drug Administration (FDA) safety standards. Bypassing regular air freighting routes will speed up the importation and distribution of formula and serve as an immediate support as manufacturers continue to ramp up production.
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