Biden, lawmakers rush to fix formula shortage

President Joe Biden and lawmakers from both parties are scrambling to address a growing lack of baby formula in many stores that has made it difficult for some parents to feed their young children.

On Thursday, Biden received an update from retailers and manufacturers, including Walmart, Target, Reckitt and Gerber. Then administration officials announced they would cut bureaucratic red tape in hopes of getting more formula to stores more quickly, call on the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general to crack down on formula price-gouging, and increase imports of formula to boost the domestic supply.

Roughly half of infant formula is purchased by about 1.2 million people using a federal assistance program known as the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), the Biden administration said in a briefing Thursday. The Agriculture Department now is encouraging states to allow recipients to use their benefits on a wider array of formula products, as well as urging states to relax requirements on stores participating in the WIC program.

In response to reports of price-gouging on formula, the Justice Department now also is working with state attorneys general to push them to monitor price-gouging on the formula market, and Biden on Thursday also asked the FTC to investigate reports of price-gouging.

The administration also is working to increase imports of formula — the United States produces 98% of its formula supply, according to an administration fact sheet — probably from countries like Chile, Ireland, Mexico and the Netherlands.