Rand Paul Introduces Bill That Would (Actually) Help End the Baby Formula Shortage

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.

https://twitter.com/HillaryClinton/status/1527292872910774273 https://twitter.com/RepMeijer/status/1527324115299753985

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.

https://twitter.com/scottlincicome/status/1527655614050185216 https://twitter.com/scottlincicome/status/1527655617577508864

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.

https://twitter.com/brad_polumbo/status/1528841117529153537  

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.

Like this article? Check out the latest BASEDPolitics podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or below: