Mothers, Georgia Democrats discuss formula shortage

WARNER ROBINS, Ga. — Representatives from the Georgia Democrats and Georgia mothers spoke out regarding the infant formula shortage during a press conference at Memorial Park in Warner Robins Thursday morning. The guest speakers were Courtney Driver and Rev. Darrius Butler, who are both running for positions to represent their districts in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Driver — the chairperson of the Houston County Democrats and the Democratic nominee to potentially represent the 146th District of Georgia — highlighted the continuing economic effects of the pandemic on the state, country and rest of the world. She is also a mother and discussed the recently passed legislation regarding the infant formula shortage.

“New moms have been feeling the brunt of this [shortage] as we have just seen a recent shortage of infant formula,” Driver said. “And while Democrats are laser-focused on fixing the shortage and ensuring it never happens again, Republicans like Austin Scott have shown that they would rather block progress and complain than be a part of a solution.”

She said President Biden and fellow Democrats have passed legislation to address the shortage, invoked the Defense Production Act to have more formula made quickly and assigned military personnel to airlift formula to families in need.

“We deserve leaders who are actually concerned about helping families get the formula they need, and we will continue to hold them accountable while delivering solutions for Georgia families,” she said.

Butler, a chairperson for the Warner Robins Boys & Girls Club and a potential candidate for Georgia’s 8th District, said this issue hits close to home as a godfather.

“Congressional Democrats have passed a bill to make sure that the FDA has an opportunity to get all of the resources necessary to make sure that the shortage that we are experiencing in baby formula no longer continues — and just as Courtney said — almost all of the Republicans in the House of Representatives, including Representative Austin Scott, voted against that bill,” Butler said. “If Republicans had it their way, Black and brown moms, low-income moms, would be left without any help, without even any formula to feed their children.”

Communications Director Alex Enlow sent along a statement from Rep. Scott: “The baby formula shortage is devastating and could have been prevented if the Biden administration had taken proper action in February when the FDA was notified about this crisis. Speaker Pelosi passed legislation that failed to produce a plan to combat this shortage and only threw money aimlessly at the problem.

“In order to protect mothers and children, I instead voted in favor of the Access to Baby Formula Act. This bipartisanly supported legislation protects WIC participants and establishes stronger federal monitoring and preparation to stop future supply chain shortages before they happen. Additionally, I joined colleagues in sending a letter to President Biden and FDA Director Califf asking for clarity on actions they plan on taking to address this shortage.”

According to the House of Representatives’ clerk’s website, on May 18, Rep. Scott voted “Yea” on a motion to suspend the rules and pass the Access to Baby Formula Act; voted “Yea” on a motion to recommit the Infant Formula Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2022; and voted “Nay” on the passage of the Infant Formula Supplemental Appropriations Act.

Below are verbatim descriptions of the pieces of legislation from congress.gov:

H.R.7790 – Infant Formula Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2022: “This bill provides $28 million in emergency supplemental appropriations to address the shortage of infant formula in the United States.

Specifically, the bill provides appropriations for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to (1) address the current shortage of FDA-regulated infant formula and certain medical foods in the United States; and (2) prevent future shortages, including by taking the steps that are necessary to prevent fraudulent products from entering the U.S. market.”

H.R.7791 – Access to Baby Formula Act of 2022: “This bill authorizes the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to take certain actions to address emergencies, disasters, and supply chain disruptions (particularly the shortage of infant formula in the United States) affecting participants of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).

The bill directs USDA to require each infant formula cost containment contract to include remedies in the event of an infant formula recall, including how an infant formula manufacturer would protect against disruption to WIC participants in the state.

USDA must, within 30 days, ensure there is a memorandum of understanding with the Department of Health and Human Services that includes procedures for coordination and information sharing regarding any supply chain disruption, including a supplemental food recall.

The bill also authorizes USDA to waive or modify any WIC qualified administrative requirement during emergencies, disasters, and supply chain disruptions. Specifically, USDA may waive or modify such a requirement for one or more state agencies if (1) the requirement cannot be met by state agencies during the emergency, disaster, or disruption; and (2) the modification or waiver is necessary to provide assistance to WIC participants and does not substantially weaken the nutritional quality of supplemental foods. For example, USDA may waive the maximum monthly allowance for infant formula.

The bill establishes notification requirements for USDA and state agencies related to supply chain disruptions.”

Rev. Butler continued explaining his thoughts following the press conference.

“We deserve better,” Butler said. “We’ve got to put some fire on them [Republicans] and make sure that they represent us appropriately; if not, it’s time for them to go home.”

Driver said she plans to work with other volunteers around the county to collect and distribute infant formula to families in need. Information on those formula drives will be shared as it is released.

Alma Young, a mother from South Georgia, said that while her child is 10 years old, she wanted to speak out — especially for other mothers of younger children. She breastfed for two years earlier in her child’s life, but she said she did have some experience in relying on formula when she was finding her way as a new mother.

“The privilege that I had [to breastfeed] is not something that everybody is able to do, so it just affects me just because I know it was there — and not having that option, I think it would have been even more stressful for me already having a newborn child,” Young said.

Rhyan Lake, the Southern press secretary with the Democratic National Committee who works closely with the Democratic Party of Georgia, said area residents should be aware of how their state representatives are voting on recent legislation.

“I think that it’s incredibly important that folks in Houston County and across Middle Georgia know that their representative voted against delivering and addressing the baby formula shortage in a time where infants desperately need it,” Lake said. “They voted against the bill; meanwhile, President Biden is doing everything in his power to address the crisis.”

In the November general election, Driver will be up against Rep. Shaw Blackmon for a chance to represent District 146, and Butler will be against Rep. Austin Scott to represent District 8.

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