The baby formula shortage is a big deal, and a huge liability for the party in power. So, Democrats are pushing through legislation they claim would solve the issue. It wouldn’t.
Ask your Republican member why they voted no on helping to end the baby formula shortage, which is hurting already-born babies.
Better yet, remember their hypocrisy in November. https://t.co/kmzbri4l0L
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) May 19, 2022
Absolutely- I voted against HR 7790 bc it has no impact on the current crisis and reward bad agency behavior. This one-page bill is just a $28M increase for FDA salaries. That’s it. If baby formula shortage was caused by an underfunded FDA, this would help. But it wasn’t. (1/3) https://t.co/ZOUT5N1Smy
— Rep. Peter Meijer (@RepMeijer) May 19, 2022
Meanwhile, Senator Rand Paul, a libertarian-leaning Republican, recently introduced a bill that would actually help address this government-created crisis.
“Mothers all across the country are faced with empty shelves where infant formula once was,” Paul lamented. “They are resorting to all options to feed their hungry babies, from making formula themselves to diluting and rationing the little they have left—which can have dangerous outcomes for their babies.”
Unlike the Democrats’ wasteful approach, his bill would actually address the root causes of the ongoing shortage: government barriers restricting the market. Remember, there is no baby formula shortage in Sweden, England, France, or countless other advanced countries.
France: /4 pic.twitter.com/jTrGqU0Bpr
— Scott Lincicome (@scottlincicome) May 20, 2022
Sweden: /5 pic.twitter.com/8IMsKmYPr5
— Scott Lincicome (@scottlincicome) May 20, 2022
It’s just, for some bizarre reason, technically illegal to import baby formula from most European countries. (Even the ones with stricter safety regulations than the US!) And in the select few countries where we are able to import formula, it’s still hit with a hefty 18% tax.
So, our shelves could quickly be full of baby formula again, if the federal government would simply get out of the way and allow Americans to actually participate in the international market.
Under the insane status quo, the government is actively confiscating baby formula at the border during a national shortage. One woman recently spoke out to complain that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) destroyed $700 in baby formula, all thanks to the federal government’s idiotic restrictions and prohibitions.
That’s where Senator Paul’s legislation comes in.
His bill, the Freedom to Import Infant Formula Act, would remove tariffs on imported baby formula and prohibit CBP from seizing formula from certain countries that meet safety standards. Sounds simple, right?
“While the Biden Administration and government bureaucrats stand idly by–yet again–to watch a crisis run out of control, my bill offers a commonsense solution that will deregulate the baby formula industry, lower costs for families and increase supply at stores across the United States,” the senator concluded in his statement accompanying the legislation.
It's like simply allowing the market to function is antithetical to their DNA…@feeonline pic.twitter.com/PtUndlHILR
— Brad Polumbo 🇺🇸⚽️🏳️🌈 (@brad_polumbo) May 23, 2022
Don’t hold your breath waiting on President Biden or congressional Democrats to get on board with this common-sense legislation, though. For too many of them, it seems like simply allowing the market to work is anathema to their very DNA.
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