WASHINGTON, DC—U.S. Representative John Rose (TN-6) presented a timeline of events that led up to the current national baby formula shortage on the House Floor Wednesday. The Congressman also raised questions surrounding claims the administration wasn’t made aware of the impending crisis.
The full speech, as prepared for delivery, is below:
In late April and early May when parent’s and Republican’s in Congress began to sound the alarm about the unacceptable scarcity of baby formula, I thought to myself, well, “this is just another example of the compounding effect of the bad policies of the Biden Administration.” But at that time, the facts had not come to light that this crisis is yet another direct result of the mismanagement and misguided Biden Presidency. A president focused on a woke, progressive agenda, while the basic functions of government are neglected or mismanaged.
Madam Speaker, Abbott Nutrition’s Sturgis plant supplied about one-fifth of all infant formula in the United States before it closed. Furthermore, the company makes the majority of the formula for infants in the WIC program. That’s more than 43% of babies in the United States. It is unfathomable that a facility this critical to the lives of our nation’s newborns can somehow slip through the cracks.
I’m glad to see the Sturgis plant is making formula again, but it could take a couple of months for supply to hit store shelves. Currently, the nation’s current out-of-stock rate is 74 percent. In Tennessee, it’s 92%. This is indeed a worst-case scenario for parents and their vulnerable infant children. How did we get here?
In September of 2019, inspectors found a handful of sanitary issues with the plant but allowed managers to continue operating while they implemented necessary changes. Due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, the FDA conducted its first routine inspection of the Abbott Sturgis plant in two years in September 2021. They found that the issues uncovered in the 2019 surveillance inspection have been resolved. At about the same time in September 2021, the FDA receives the first complaint that a child was hospitalized with cronobacter.
Meanwhile, the nationwide out-of-stock rate for infant formula rose to 11% in November of 2021 when Dr. Califf was nominated to serve as Commissioner of the FDA.
December 1st, the FDA received a second complaint related to the death of a child. The Center for Disease Control determines that cronobacter “could have been a contributing factor.”
In January of this year, the FDA receives their third complaint of a child hospitalized with cronobacter while at the same time the New York Times reports that baby formula shortages are “worsening throughout the United States.”
On January 31st, the FDA begins a delayed follow-up inspection of the Abbott Sturgis plant. Thirteen days later, the nationwide stock of infant formula rises to 26%.
Two days later, on February 15th, Dr. Califf is confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the new Commissioner of the FDA. Two days after that, on the Commissioner’s second day on the job, Abbot announces a voluntary recall and hold of certain powdered infant formulas produced at the Sturgis plant. The same day the FDA receive a fourth complaint.
Why does this timeline matter? Because President Biden said he wasn’t made aware of issues with the stock of baby formula until late April! Now just imagine, on your second day on the job, a fire breaks out in your office, and you don’t call the President to let him know?! I don’t understand. I truly don’t. Again, this plant produces 1/5 of the nation’s supply of baby formula, the crisis was foreseeable and extraordinary steps should have been taken to the avoid it.
There’s no doubt in my mind that the February formula recall followed by the Sturgis plant closure is the primary factor that turned an already increasing problem into a crisis. There should have been more urgency. It should have been clear to the Biden Administration in February that we were going to have a problem. Maybe it was and they just didn’t want to tell the President. Who knows? I’m sure we’ll find out when Republicans take back the majority and conduct proper oversight of this administration.
Put simply: the FDA and President Biden fumbled the ball for months and families across the country are paying the price. We can’t afford for this administration to take the eye off the ball again. The President must do better.
With that, I yield the remainder of my time.
You can watch the full speech here.
Original source can be found here.
