Infant Formula Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2022

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mrs. HINSON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Texas for yielding on this very important topic.

Mr. Speaker, families across this country are desperate for help. Babies are going hungry. Mothers and fathers are faced with empty shelves, and there is no formula to be found.

As a mother, this is heartbreaking. As a Congresswoman, this is unacceptable. That is why I will be offering a motion to recommit this bill in just a few moments.

According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the FDA, 67 percent of children rely on infant formula for some portion of their nutrition by the time they are 3 months old. One of my children had to have formula. That is 2.7 million babies that need formula their parents cannot find on the shelves in their local supermarket or anywhere, for that matter.

We need to address this supply chain crisis right now. Our families deserve solutions. The Biden administration ignored the warning signs that a formula shortage was imminent, sitting on their hands until the shelves were bare. Their incompetence underscores the need for funding to come with guardrails and accountability for the FDA's failures.

Throwing additional money at a problem is the wrong approach. American families need a plan to fix this crisis and to get that baby formula back on store shelves, and they don't need us spending more of their hard-earned money to do it.

My amendment would redirect a targeted amount of unused pandemic funds to address the baby formula shortage. It would use $5.75 million of existing Federal funds to respond to this crisis immediately, right now.

My amendment would also require the FDA to report to Congress on the shortage, ensuring that the American people know exactly what the administration is doing or is not doing to get formula back on the shelves.

We would also immediately require an assessment of all baby formula stockpiled by the Federal Government. Can this formula be redirected to the marketplace for families? Can we do that right now?

This amendment ensures the FDA Commissioner can't travel anywhere unless it is related to the baby formula crisis until this crisis is addressed.

Mr. Speaker, we have seen the impact this baby formula crisis is having across our country--the mom whose baby can tolerate only a certain kind of formula, the dad who is scouring Facebook groups tonight trying to see if he can find what his baby needs, or the grandparents who have gone to three grocery stores, driven miles, and are still empty-handed.

We have an opportunity here to really work together and enact meaningful legislation that will get baby formula back on store shelves as soon as possible and ensure that our families are not ever left in a lurch like this again.

Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues tonight to join me, join us, in fighting for families, for babies, and for taxpayers. We can do it all together. Vote ``yes'' tonight on the motion to recommit. Adopt my amendment, and let's get this baby formula crisis under control.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mrs. HINSON. Mr. Speaker, I have a motion to recommit at the desk.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mrs. HINSON. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source