President Joe Biden invoked the Defense Production Act on Wednesday, May 18, in a major step to boost the supply of baby formula in the United States, according to a report by NBC News.
The commander-in-chief's announcement means that the federal government will prioritize key ingredients for formula production and force suppliers to provide the needed resources to formula manufacturers ahead of other customers ordering those goods.
Apart from invoking the 1950 law, which allows the federal government to direct manufacturing production for national defense, Biden also launched a program that will use aircraft of the U.S. military to import formula from abroad.
Law prominently used by former President Trump in recent years
Biden made the announcement via video from the White House, saying, "Today, I'm invoking what they call the Defense Production Act to ensure that manufacturers have the necessary ingredients to make safe, healthy infant formula here at home."
The law was most prominently used in recent years to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, with both former President Donald Trump and Biden invoking it. Biden's announcement comes after a bipartisan group of lawmakers called on the president to invoke the Defense Production Act to bolster formula production as the shortage worsens and parents scramble to secure the needed goods.
The House of Representatives is set to vote on a pair of bills on Wednesday night to increase access to the baby formula under a federal program and boost funding for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to hire more employees to combat the issue.
The FDA began warning consumers not to buy specific baby formula back in February as the federal agency investigated a string of bacterial infections in four infants tied to an Abbott Nutrition factory in Sturgis, Michigan.
Abbott to reopen Michigan plant in 1-2 weeks
Abbott Nutrition, which has denied any wrongdoing with the deaths, announced on Monday that it had agreed to the terms of the FDA to resume operations at the Michigan facility, with the baby formula shortage pushing parents into a frenzy.
According to Reuters, the plant will reopen in one to two weeks. FDA Commissioner Robert Califf said that Abbott had remedied several issues after three days of working closely with the federal agency.
Biden detailed another effort to address the baby formula shortage on Wednesday, which will use U.S. military aircraft to import the much-needed formula from abroad. Biden called it Operation Fly Formula, which will enable the government to speed up the import of infant formula and, in the process, start getting more formula in stores as soon as possible.
Biden added that he had directed the Department of Defense and the Department of Health and Human Services to send aircraft and planes of the military overseas to pick up infant formula that meets the health and safety standards of the United States so they can get it on store shelves faster.
