"Washington — The House of Representatives passed two bills to address the nationwide baby formula shortage Wednesday night as families continue to face bare shelves across the nation.
One measure would help enable recipients to buy formula by giving the Agriculture secretary the permanent flexibility to waive certain requirements the special supplemental nutrition program for poorer women, infants and children, known as WIC, that limit the brands and quantities of formula that WIC recipients may purchase. The bill would also require that formula manufacturers have contingency plans for protecting against disruptions in supply in the event of a recall. It passed with a large bipartisan majority of 414 to 9.
All nine "no" votes were cast by Republicans: Reps. Andy Biggs, of Arizona; Lauren Boebert, of Colorado; Thomas Massie, of Kentucky; Clay Higgins, of Louisiana; Matt Gaetz, of Florida; Chip Roy, of Texas; Paul Gosar, of Arizona; Louie Gohmert, of Texas and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.
A second measure to provide an extra $28 million to the Food and Drug Administration to help get fraudulent formula products off store shelves and boost the part of the workforce focused on formula, as well as FDA inspection staff, also passed, but with just 12 Republicans voting in favor.
Republicans said the plan did not force the FDA to come up with a plan to immediately address the shortage, nor did it force federal agencies to look for formula that could be immediately redirected to American households or use the power of the federal government to move formula around. They also said the FDA already had enough money to deal with the crisis. "
