Following Senator Hassan’s Calls, President Biden Invokes Defense Production Act to Boost Baby Formula Supply

WASHINGTON – Following Senator Hassan’s calls, the Biden administration announced that it is invoking the Defense Production Act and increasing imports from other countries to address the baby formula shortage. These are steps that Senator Hassan pushed for in the Urgently Feeding America’s Babies Act that she introduced earlier this week with Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL).

In addition, Senators Hassan and Shaheen joined their colleagues yesterday in urging President Joe Biden to immediately assign a coordinator within the White House on infant formula to address the shortage and implement a national strategy to increase the resiliency of the infant formula supply chain and protect against future contamination and shortages.

“We need organized leadership and a clear plan for addressing this crisis. We cannot stop working on this issue until babies are fed,” wrote the Senators. “The federal government needs to do more to get formula back on shelves as soon as possible and secure the supply chain of infant formula to prevent this type of crisis from happening again. These actions require a government-wide response, as the issue spans food supply chain security, regulatory oversight, public health surveillance, market competition, government contracting, and more.”

Senator Hassan also previously called on infant formula manufacturers to increase production and make every effort possible to get parents and families the formula they need to feed their kids.

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