Knowing full well that President Biden has no control over the price of gas or inflation, just as no president really does, because they are under the control of corporations whose goal is profits for the company and dividends for the investors, with the pittance that is left over for those who actually made those profits, the GOP likes to push a false narrative, one they demand not be applied when a president is Republican under the same conditions.
To this they have added the current preventable shortage of baby formula brought on the Covid disruption of supply lines and when one of three major formula producers in the United States responsible for 40% of baby formula had to shut down production and recall several brands of formula due to possible bacterial contamination.
This is not under any president’s control. The best a president can do is deal with and solve the problem.
Various members of the GOP jumped in demanding action, blaming Biden, and using the crisis as a Biden administration American Baby vs Foreign Baby choice, ignoring that by federal law the Biden administration is obligated to provide baby formula to the babies of detained illegal immigrants.
Governor Abbott of Texas claikmed,
“As parents face the nightmare of a nationwide formula shortage, the Biden Administration is happy to provide baby formula to illegal immigrants coming across the southern border”
Representative Elise Stefanik of New York a pro-Trumper who claims voter fraud in the 2020 elections, calls Democrats pedophiles, and promotes replacement Theory tweeted,
“Joe Biden continues to put America LAST by shipping pallets of baby formula to the southern border as American families face empty shelves.”
“America’s parents are struggling to find any spare baby formula on the shelves … while Biden has plenty reserved for illegal immigrants. Now that’s America Last,”
came from GOP Representative Dan Bishop.
The GOP demands that something be done, and while they are running around making nose, President Joe Biden invoked the Defense Production Act of 1950 to boost the supply of formula from US manufacturers, the law that Trump was loathe to invoke when the Covid pandemic began.
Representative Jahana Hayes introduced HR 7791 to help families using benefits under the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program more access to baby formula which is presently limited to certain kinds and brands that WIC recipients can purchase. To help prevent a future shortage, the bill also requires that formula manufacturers establish contingencies to prevent supply disruptions.
Representative Rosa DeLauro introduced HR 7790 address the ongoing baby formula crisis in the form of increased funding for the Food and Drug Administration, proposing a $28 million cash infusion to help the FDA address the current formula shortage and prevent future supply chain issues.
Something was getting done.
Then, House Minority Whip Steve Scalise urged a Republican no vote on the latter bill claiming Speaker Nancy Pelosi was pushing the bill forward “in hopes of covering up the administration’s ineptitude by throwing additional money at the FDA with no plan to actually fix the problem, all while failing to hold the FDA accountable.”
In spite of Republicans voting 192 (out of 208) against the emergency spending bill to help unaborted babies, HR 7790 passed
Although when it came to HR 779, the Access to Baby Formula Act enough Republicans crossed the aisle to [ass the bill on a 414 “yes” votes, there were nine stand outs who voted “No”, GOP Representatives Matt Gaetz, Lauren Boebert, Paul Gosar, Louie Gohmert, and Marjorie Taylor Greene with lesser notables Chip Roy, Andy Biggs, Thomas Massie, and Clay Higgins.
Although he is in Seoul, Korea, Biden signed the Access to Baby Formula Act of 2022, and announced the first flights of “Operation Fly Formula” to deliver roughly 1.5 million bottles of formula from Switzerland to Indiana for distribution would take place this weekend.
The fate if the other bill is uncertain now that it heads to the senate.
Senate GOP Whip John Thune of South Dakota has stated that key senators in his party have not “looked that closely” at it yet. He and other Republicans have said they don’t think more funding for increasing the number of FDA inspection staff, providing resources for personnel working on formula issues, helping the agency stop fraudulent baby formula from entering the US marketplace, and improve data collection on the formula market.
From these votes, especially in the House, the Right to Life party is very selective in who gets that Right.
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