Infant Formula Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2022

Floor Speech

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Mr. BISHOP of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding, and I thank her for her passion and compassion in confronting this issue.

As chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies, I am glad to support Chairwoman DeLauro as we address the infant formula crisis facing America. We are working toward ensuring that parents and other caregivers have access to safe and affordable nutrition for the babies in their care.

The emergency funds allocated by this bill will help safely expedite the inspection of the country's infant formula supply and quickly get it back on the shelves of stores across the country.

But we must also address how such a crisis came to pass in the first place. How did a manufacturer, a company responsible for over 40 percent of a Nation's infant formula supply, have an unclean facility? How was this situation left unchecked? How did it lead to hospitalization and the death of babies?

Congress will be scrutinizing this crisis with the FDA and manufacturers in the days ahead. I look forward to my subcommittee hosting the first hearing in this regard with FDA Commissioner Robert Califf tomorrow morning.

I have often stood on this very floor to tout the importance of the FDA and how it touches every single family and every life in America. Today is a stark reminder of that fact. The FDA is at the forefront of our system of checks to ensure that our food and our medicine, including infant formula, meet the nutritional standards, the nutritional needs, and that they are safe for our consumers.

We must ensure the safety of and reestablish Americans' confidence in the infant formula that they purchase. That means getting more inspectors out in the field to make sure that the drive for corporate profit does not compromise infant formula safety. It also means making sure families are not being sold fake formula or subjected to price gouging from bad actors and hoarders looking to take advantage of the crisis.

I have heard from families who are distraught at the news of this crisis. They want to know how a tainted product got to the market; how come there is not enough baby formula to replenish store shelves; and what we are doing to make sure they have access to safe baby formula quickly.

This bill provides the funds to improve the safety of, to reduce fraud in, and to better understand the pressures and vulnerabilities of the infant formula market. It helps address the shortage we face today while getting us the data we need to prevent this from happening again.

Families are willing to make tremendous sacrifices for and investments in the safety and well-being of their children. Making sure their children are fed is one of the most fundamental concerns parents face. By passing this bill, Congress is standing up for our families.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to pass this bill. Let's make sure that the infants in America have safe and available formula.

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