Biden Invokes Defense Production Act to Ramp up Baby Formula Manufacturing

(CNSNews.com) – President Joe Biden invoked the Defense Production Act to make sure that Americans have an adequate supply of baby formula.

The DPA will ensure that the baby formula companies have the supplies they need to ramp up production in the wake of the nationwide shortage.

“What we have said consistently is that all tools on the table, and what the president did yesterday was invoke the production act to ensure the supplies – the components that go into manufacturing baby formula – are prioritized in the manufacturing process,” Brian Deese, director of the National Economic Council, told “CNN Newsroom with Alisyn Camerota and Viktor Blackwell” on Thursday.

“That is important because at this moment, the manufacturers are ramping up. They are going to 100 percent capacity in their facilities, but we want to make sure that as they do that, they are not slowed down by access to any supply, whether it’s in the bottles that they need for packaging, or an input that goes into making the formula,” he said.

“With this authority now, the president has directed the Department of Health and Human Services to identify any instance where prioritization is necessary of supplies, so that those manufacturers can get to and stay that hundred percent production level for as long as we need. 

In a letter to HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, the president said that imports of baby formula will serve as a bridge to this ramped up production, and Biden is requesting both secretaries to “take all appropriate measures available to get additional safe formula into the country immediately.”

The president also requested that Becerra and Vilsack work with the Defense Department “to utilize contracted aircraft to accelerate the arrival of infant form formula into the United States that meets our Government’s health and safety standards.”

“This will ensure that we are using every available tool to get American families swifter access to the infant formula they need,” Biden wrote.

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