Republicans are against abortion. Why would nine Republicans vote against a bill in Congress (HR 7791, the Access to Baby Formula Act) that would help lower-income women secure baby formula for their babies?
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Republicans are against abortion. Why would nine Republicans vote against a bill in Congress (HR 7791, the Access to Baby Formula Act) that would help lower-income women secure baby formula for their babies?
Here is their statement
These Nine Republicans Voted Against Expanding Access to Baby Formula (newsweek.com)
The bill does nothing to address the shortage . It was designed as a stunt so the Dems can get on a soap box and claim Repubs don't want poor babies to get baby formula.
As a liberal dem just did on this site.
Clueless knew of the shortage and the issues involved mid year last year and did nothing about it until yesterday . Bills to streamline regulations to speed up domestic production and waive import restrictions will get an adequate supply of formula to ALL babies . WIC and other programs already provide formula when there is an adequate supply.
There is no adequate supply.
correct .....hence the bill passed is political posturing and not a real solution .In fact the WIC program contributes to the problem (more on this later )
This is a classic case of bureaucracy slow walking like a turtle and general incompetence . In 2 years between 2019 and 2021 the FDA received consumer complaints about children testing positive to cronobacter The company found contaminant in one of the batches just days after a 2019 inspection by the FDA.
September, in 2 separate inspections, the FDA discovered contaminants in the plant and violations . The first reported illness of a child was also in September .
October a whistleblower warned the FDA about safety issues at the plant including allegations that Abbott falsified records, released untested formula, employed lax cleaning practices, misled auditors, failed to take corrective measures and lacked good systems for tracing potentially contaminated products.
Still it took until February of this year for the FDA to start taking action.
Clueless took action this week invoking the Defensive Production Act which will allow more imported formula. However ,the supply chain has been an issue that is getting worse since covid ;and there have been many issues with contaminated imported formula .As you recall ,300,000 Chinese babies were poisoned by formula in 2008 . At very least imports should be subject to inspection by US inspectors BEFORE being shipped into the country .Instead his act will allow fast tracking of the product through customs .
The answer is to first get American production back up and running . The FDA has an agreement with Abbott to reopen the plant . But it is 2 weeks away.
The bigger problem is that consolidation reduced competition in the industry . There are only 3 producers in the country (Abbott, Gerber, and Mead Johnson). Millions of families use baby formula but few companies supply it . Abbott has a 40% market share .
1989 Congress passed laws requiring states to use competitive bidding to select one company to provide formula covered by the WIC program. This led to the bid winners getting a tremendous competitive advantage in the market. Thus the consolidation .The 3 companies mentioned are the ones that won the bids .Their control over the market has disincentivized the creation of new brands
Congress instead of posturing with silly laws that will not solve the issue should examine anti-trust laws and update them to apply to the 21st century market. It is an amazing thing . When there is a crisis the government solution inevitably is loosening regulatory red tape . One day they will realize that it is the red tape that often contributes to the crisis.
WIC baby formula rebate program ,which generates up to $2 billion a year from the manufacturers ,drive up the cost of the baby formula to all non-WIC customers. The government pockets the rebates instead of serving more WIC recipients
WIC serves almost half the infants that use baby formula . Do the Dems plan on having every person in America serviced by welfare ?
So much for the non-thinking argument that conservatives don't care about feeding born infants, an argument made by the crowd that sees no problem in killing 900 thousand innocent human beings a year for the crime of being inconvenient. And then, in the classic liberal dem strategy, they accuse others of being non-caring. Stunning.Quote:
WIC serves almost half the infants that use baby formula .
In 2018, 1.7 million infants (45 percent of all infants in the United States) were eligible for WIC. Ninety-eight percent of eligible infants participated in the program, meaning their WIC benefits were received or picked up. (People who are enrolled but whose benefits are not received or picked up are not counted as participants.)
WIC Eligibility and Coverage Rates - 2018 | Food and Nutrition Service (usda.gov)
You're barking up the wrong tree. WIC funds or not, there's not enough baby formula. What do you suggest feeding those millions of fetuses that get born?
Another typical lib strategy. Elect an incompetent boob who oversees the disappearance of much of the baby formula supply, and then ask someone else what they intend to do about it.
Classic.
my bark was responding to the OP . As for doing something about it ;I already gave a recommendation .
Congress instead of posturing with silly laws that will not solve the issue should examine anti-trust laws and update them to apply to the 21st century market. It is an amazing thing . When there is a crisis the government solution inevitably is loosening regulatory red tape . One day they will realize that it is the red tape that often contributes to the crisis.
That of course is a long term solution that the swamp critters will not adopt . Shorter term I guess Clueless is doing all he can do . He is begging other nations to solve it ;just like he is doing with oil .
The Dems in Congress are also doing what they do best ....throw money at a problem and do political posturing .
Nope. Breastfeeding has to become what new mothers do.
The stats don't lie . Baby formula is a $4.1 billion dollar industry in the US
and now a word from my favorite gum-show reporter in America .
Salena Zito: Rhetoric versus realism at the pump, and in the formula aisle | Pittsburgh Post-GazetteQuote:
Meanwhile, it was recently reported the Biden White House spent six months coming up with the nickname “Ultra MAGA” to go after Republican candidates.
The people who run strategy for the White House seem to have forgotten how to place themselves in voters’ shoes and experience everyday problems that impact families and communities. For them it is nothing but political calculation: They went to strategy school, not governing school.
Youngstown State University professor Paul Sracic says Biden has become a sort of anti-Harry Truman: “Where Truman insisted ‘The buck stops here,’ Biden is constantly trying to shift blame onto others; from Putin to ‘ultra-MAGA’ Republicans, Biden is hoping that Americans don’t hold him and his party responsible for things like inflation, the baby milk shortage, or the border crisis.”
Mr. Biden’s calculation, Mr. Sracic says, will not work.
Truman’s phrase was not an offer to take responsibility, but an acknowledgement of reality: When things go well in America, the president gets credit, and when they go wrong, he also gets credit.
“With parents scrambling to track down formula following the collision of supply chain issues and a massive recall, they want answers on how this could happen with such a life-critical product,” said Mr. Sracic.
How is it that we have these shortages, Mr. Pres? Why has gas gone up 150%? Why is inflation raging? How did you manage to so mismanage the Afghan withdrawal? Why can't you even begin to control the southern border?
Answer? "It was all those Ultra MAGA repubs!!"
Somehow I don't think that is going to fly in November.
These are world problems.Quote:
Originally Posted by jlisenbe
Inflation is not a worldwide problem. The Afghan withdrawal was strictly a Biden debacle. The shortages of baby food are not world problems. And gas has gone up due, in some measure, to the terrible energy policies of the Biden admin.
Please watch the news and read a newspaper or two.
We're not talking about baby food; the shortage is baby formula. My brother, sister, and I were raised on homemade formula. We three are still alive. And yes, factory-produced baby formula is in short supply throughout the world.
Thank you for that information rich reply.
Breastfeeding is the only solution. Wives are to be submissive and must stay at home to prepare nourishing meals, keep a clean house, and breastfeed all the offspring until they reach age two.
competent governance is the solution . Gas nationwide is $4.60/gaL in Cal it is over $7 .
Clueless today said this was part of the process to a clean energy economy . Sometimes the Dems accidentally tell the truth about their policies .
The cabeza de pinga actually praised higher gas pricesQuote:
'When it comes to the gas prices, we are going through an incredible transition that is taking place, that god-willing when it's over, we'll be stronger and the world will be stronger and less reliant on fossil fuels,'
Exactly. The truth has come out. I wouldn't be surprised at all to find that AOC is directing all of this.Quote:
Clueless today said this was part of the process to a clean energy economy . Sometimes the Dems accidentally tell the truth about their policies .
This baby formula shortage certainly seems to be the result of incredible ineptitude by the Biden administration.
Yes, it is. Keep up!!!Quote:
Originally Posted by jlisenbe
Why didn't Trump get Mark Frerichs out?Quote:
The Afghan withdrawal was strictly a Biden debacle.
Yes, they are.Quote:
The shortages of baby food are not world problems.
It was going up long before Biden.Quote:
And gas has gone up due, in some measure, to the terrible energy policies of the Biden admin.
Inflation in most of Europe is not as high as here. Keep up!! Use those browser skills you have bragged about.
You can't blame Biden's total incompetence on Trump. Take some responsibility.
No they are not. Military transports are flying in baby formula from Europe beginning today. It's been on the news you claim to watch. As Tom recently documented, our problem stems from the FDA shutting down one of the primary facilities for baby formula manufacture and then taking many weeks to get it back open which has still not been done.
Gas price on the day of the 1/6 incident was a little over two bucks a gallon. Your ceaseless efforts to undergird Biden are doubtless well intentioned but completely insufficient.
Also on the news was the story of the Biden admin cancelling the sale of new oil leases. Thanks a lot, Joe.
Where is the much promised and long delayed legal opinion???
What news show?Quote:
Originally Posted by jlisenbe
Mark's family pleaded with Trump to get Mark free. He shrugged his shoulders in helplessness.
I don't think you know what Trump did about Mark F. Do a little work and you can find out why we have not gotten him back. At any rate, multiply that by several thousand and you have some idea of Biden's terrible ineptitude. Ineptitude by a liberal dem admin that you are eager to defend and seemingly would not criticize under any circumstances.
News about the baby formula debacle? OK. I'll do your work for you. Do you really have all of these impressive internet skills you brag about? I ask that since it took me all of five seconds to find this for you from ABC. You must, must, must begin to keep up better. And if you read the article, you'll find out why we are in this mess to begin with.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/acce...-Pierre%20said.
Thought this might interest you. Notice that with Trump, gas prices were declining, but under Biden prices have exploded. His efforts at blaming Russia won't work since prices have increased almost every month since his administration began.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/...es-since-2009/
Biden's latest comment about the gas prices. The truth seems rather plain.
"Here’s the situation. And when it comes to the gas prices, we’re going through an incredible transition that is taking place that, God willing, when it’s over, we’ll be stronger and the world will be stronger and less reliant on fossil fuels when this is over."
Note that God is evidently behind the rise in prices. How convenient. It's either God or Russia. You can take your pick.
Your lack of reading comprehension is horrifying.Quote:
Originally Posted by jlisenbe
You would be much better served to be horrified at the inefficiencies of the Biden admin.
Little can be done about Mark Frerichs. He was abducted after the last prisoner exchange . He was NOT abducted by the Afghan Taliban . He WAS abducted by the Haqqani network which has some affiliation with the Taliban;but operates in the border land between Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Haqqani are a criminal network much like the Mafia ;and not part of the Afghan government. leadership.
He was abducted some time near the beginning of February 2020 The previous year in November Trump had made a prisoner exchange for 2 western professor (one American one Aussie) hostages in exchange for 3 high ranking Haqqani leaders who were being held by the Afghan government..... and 10 Afghan nationals who were being held by the Taliban.
That was the last prisoner exchange ;and it was controversial ....very one sided when you consider the influence of the Haqqani' released .
Frerichs was abducted after that . He was abducted because well the Haqqani had run out of high value western hostages . Again ,the Haqqani are a criminal gang that is no different than any of the cartels South of the Border . Local governments don't have the power to control them and Americans short of an invasion can't do much about them either .The Haqqani hold all the cards because they operate in the lawless region of 2 failed states .The US was very reluctant to cross into Pakistan with the exception of when we executed OBL. That was a successful covert operation that would be extremely unlikely to duplicate . Nobody knows where Frerichs is being held . When his name came up in the final negotiations of the peace deal ;the Taliban continuously denied they had him or knew of his whereabouts .
Perhaps the peace deal should not have been signed . It green lighted the final Taliban offensive . Once Clueless did his chaotic evacuation ,whatever leverage we had (and very little it was ) was gone .
As I understand the argument, it was OK for Biden to leave behind many hundreds of American nationals and Afghan allies since, after all, Trump failed to get ONE person out that no one was able to find.
But Trump can do ANYthing!!!!
that is your best response? I am frequently wondering why I waste my time .
Rather sadly, that seems to be true. Anything is better than actually taking the plunge and being even mildly critical of a liberal dem. It's what I chiefly dislike about trying to talk with liberals. They dislike and even fear the truth, so we end up in the weeds in useless discussions and with comments about "reading comp", "cherry-picking", or being a "literalist".Quote:
that is your best response?
This was really the worst. "Breastfeeding is the only solution. Wives are to be submissive and must stay at home to prepare nourishing meals, keep a clean house, and breastfeed all the offspring until they reach age two." I can only reply, "What??"
The Haqqani was willing to trade our prisoner (their guy) for Frerichs. Why didn't we?Quote:
Originally Posted by tomder55
Show evidence of the claim and what they wanted in exchange . Which prisoners did they want released ?
I have been critical of the exchange of senior ranking terrorists for the likes of American traitor Bo Bergdahl . So I would be interested in the claim that the Haqqani wanted an exchange ;and who they wanted in the swap .
That was indeed the sticking point.Quote:
who they wanted in the swap .
The Afghan withdrawal, however, had no sticking points. It was simply botched from start to finish. So why we are talking about one man? Well, it is because it is an opportunity to deflect from Biden's failure. For that matter, why hasn't Biden gotten him out?
Never mind I will answer my own question . The Haqqani want the release of convicted drug lord Bashir Noorza ,another uneven deal . He was charged with attempting to smuggle more than $50 million of heroin into the US .He was sentenced for a life sentence in GITMO . Sorry I don't see that the exchange is in a compelling US interest . Mark Frerichs.knew the risks of working in Afghanistan .
I spent 2 summers in a potentially hostile nation in the ME that later became a hostile nation in the 1970s . My family knew that we were on our own if there was problems.
Leaders of the Taliban are pressing Washington to free an Afghan drug lord serving a life sentence in a U.S. prison in exchange for the release of an American engineer, Mark Frerichs, held in Afghanistan for two years now, Afghan and American security, legal, and diplomatic sources said.
The group is also threatening to block the evacuation of tens of thousands of Afghans who hold U.S. citizenship or are eligible for resettlement in the United States until the drug lord, Bashir Noorzai, can go home to Kandahar, according to Steve Brooking, a former official with the British government and United Nations in Afghanistan.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/01/06...ates-frerichs/
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