Biden Signs “Formula Act” to Ease Import Restrictions. What Took so Long?

In case you haven’t noticed, there’s still a shortage of baby formula plaguing parents in search of formula for infants and newborns. The issue has been festering since early this year with the Biden administration only taking notice once it became too big a problem to ignore in May.

Now, many months later than it should have happened, the White House is moving to suspend import tariffs on baby formula coming from overseas in a bid to boost the domestic supply and pull any lever it can to fix a man-made problem:

HR 8351, the “Formula Act,” was introduced by Democratic Reps. Earl Blumenauer of Oregon and Suzan DelBene of Washington and would temporarily suspend tariffs on imported baby formula until the end of the year.

Baby formula imported from countries without a free trade agreement with the US is subject to tariffs, which increases the cost of formula for consumers by an average of 27%, according to Blumenauer’s office.

“This legislation will help alleviate this crisis by lowering the price of imported baby formula from safe and trusted partners abroad while our domestic production catches up,” DelBene said in a statement Friday.

Once again, Biden is taking action months after it should have happened. Once the problem became a crisis in February, it still took months before the White House acknowledged it.

Then, the government began hoarding formula for social programs and even warehousing it for use by illegal migrants crossing the board with infants in tow. The issue continued to grow which led to a feeble attempt of flying pallets of formula in from overseas as the FDA dragged its feet to get America’s largest formula manufacturing plant back online after a shutdown in late 2021.

Now, to be months removed from the formula shortage reaching a boiling point, Biden is still working behind the eight ball trying to plug holes in the dam with toothpicks.

Recent reports indicate the formula shortage is continuing to get worse, not better, despite all of Biden’s weak attempts to try and correct the problem:

U.S. stores are still struggling to stock baby formula despite monthslong efforts by manufacturers and the Biden administration to boost supplies.

Availability of powdered formula products in U.S. stores earlier this month dropped to the lowest level so far this year, with about 30% of products out of stock for the week ended July 3, according to the market-research firm IRI. While availability improved slightly last week, out-of-stock levels remain higher than in recent months, and shortages remain acute in states including Alaska, Utah and Wyoming, IRI data showed.

That story, from the Wall Street Journal on July 14, indicates that the tiny efforts made by the Biden administration to fly in pallets from overseas or ease restrictions in other ways have done little to actually fix the widespread supply problems.

In short, parents are still struggling to find a steady, reliable supply of infant formula on the shelf and when they do find it, they must buy as much as they’re allowed to avoid running out. All of this is a self-repeating circumstance for a problem that the federal government was aware of in the Fall of 2021.

This issue is part and parcel of the way this inept administration has dealt with every problem it encounters. Ignore and downplay the issue as a “Fox News” fake news story until mainstream news outlets are forced to report the truth and White House reporters start asking direct questions.

By that point, it’s too late to act and make a difference which leads to the current situation where formula remains scarce and Biden again looks like a feckless leader unable to adapt or affect the things around him.