Rep. Mikie Sherrill Urges Biden To Take Action On Baby Formula Shortage

NORTH JERSEY — Rep. Mikie Sherrill and 15 other moms in Congress urged President Joe Biden to take action on the baby formula crisis. The congresswomen called on the administration to take immediate actions that would expand the formula supply across the country.

Baby formula was out of stock on 43 percent of shelves at stores throughout the country in April, according to Datasembly. Abbott reached an agreement Monday with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to reopen the manufacturing plant at the center of the shortage. But while the facility in Sturgis, Michigan, can restart within two weeks once the FDA gives the go-ahead, it would take another six or eight weeks for the formula to reach store shelves.

Sherrill (NJ-11) is among the members of Congress calling for President Biden to take greater action. Signees of the letter, which Sherrill led, include Reps. Cindy Axne, Veronica Escobar, Chrissy Houlahan, Barbara Lee, Susie Lee, Nancy Mace, Carolyn B. Maloney, Grace Meng, Marie Newman, Katie Porter, Rashida Tlaib, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Jennifer Wexton, Susan Wild and Nikema Williams. All are Democrats except Mace.

"We urge you to take all necessary actions to immediately expand production of infant formula to meet demand and eliminate these shortages," the congresswomen said in the Monday letter. "In addition, we also urge you to implement short-term solutions to improve formula supply immediately.

"Finally, we ask that the Administration conduct a top-to-bottom evaluation to determine how the formula supply chain became so susceptible to the nationwide breakdown that we are seeing today and to then develop appropriate reforms to improve the resilience of this market so that this crisis never happens again."

Gov. Phil Murphy declared a state of emergency Tuesday for the formula shortage. The declaration activates New Jersey price-gouging laws consistent with federal efforts, according to Murphy. Read more: Baby Formula Shortage Prompts NJ State Of Emergency: Murphy

Four manufacturers — Abbott, Mead Johnson Nutrition, Nestle USA and Perrigo — control about 90 percent of the formula market in the United States. Abbott and the FDA announced a recall Feb. 17 of three different types of formula — Similac, Alimentu and EleCare — after two infants died from formula contaminated by Cronobacter bacteria.

According to a whistleblower complaint, Abbott's cost-cutting measures included subpar clean-in-place procedures and failure to train and hire staff to keep the Sturgis site sanitary. Abbott has authorized more than $8 billion in stock buybacks since 2019.

Abbott Labs spent more than $4.3 million on lobbying in 2021 and close to $1 million in the first three months of 2022. It's difficult to tell how much the company's lobbying efforts went toward issues affecting baby formula though. (Abbott Labs products also include COVID-19 rapid tests, medical devices and adult-nutrition brands such as Ensure.)

For perspective, Abbott Labs spent $4.06 million on lobbying in 2020, which ranked 122nd that year, according to OpenSecrets. That same year, Abbott donated $1,048,047 to Democratic candidates and $1,032,674 to Republican candidates on the national stage, according to OpenSecrets.

Read the full letter to President Biden here.