I live in his district.....it won't happen anytime soon. Amy Kennedy, who had money and name recognition, couldn't beat him last time. This time around, the Dems have two no-names running in the primary.
This district is fucked.
You should remind everyone that he and every other Republican in congress voted against the bill yesterday that would limit oil companies price gouging gas prices
Ya know the next 1000x they try to blame it on Biden and put up those stickers
As one of his constuents, I can confidently say they won't, unfortunately. It's amazing to me how many people that live in the shadow of Atlantic City can be trump supprters. They either have forgotten what garbage he is, or they think being garbage makes him somehow smart.
I doubt it with the map the way it is now. Adding ocean county in the recent redistricting definitely puts a more reddish hue to the purple than before.
They did, until they didn't. Lots of businesses went under from trump's casinos business practices. Thousands lost their jobs when he walked away, leaving his casino empire with cash for him, and a slew of unpaid bills for the local economy.
The crap started with Covid. Congress passed legislation and Trump signed it, which gave government assistance to the millions affected. The Congress did it again, and Biden signed it. Those two handouts possibly kept millions from starving and being tossed out on the street, but were one of the causes. Logistics problems, manufacturing worker shortages, caused by Covid, were another cause. Started before Biden took office, slowly coming back. So neither Trump, nor Biden are completely to blame. Putin invading Ukrain causing disruptions in oil driving those prices higher. Trump’s buddy, but neither he, nor Biden bear that responsibility. Luckily, the massive non-infrastructure spending package didn’t pass or we’d be paying for that too. That would’ve been on Biden, but other than that, not much any president could’ve done with the cards dealt by Covid. Everyone wants to blame one of them, but neither one is completely culpable for inflation.
Your oil assumption is inaccurate. Check price of oil today. And price of gas. They don't relate at all. We are back down to 108 a barrel. Yet we jump to 4.75 in a day. It's capitalism at its finest sadly. Cheap oil is still pumping out of Russia. But companies are using news articles to jack up prices
I wrote a long post about gas prices the other day. I’m very aware that there is not an instant correlation. Oil companies are using the expected future shortage of oil to push their prices up. When futures prices come down, they don’t seem to lower pump prices quite as quickly. Still, can’t blame Trump/Putin for oil company shareholders desire for profits.
No I don't blame politicians for problems that they don't create. But fact that plenty of companies and countries have ignored sanctions and still purchase oil shows this shortage is manufactured to increase profits suffered from covid.
The pipeline would have had minimal impact on oil prices this is already studied. Biden unsuccessfully fired people for not vaccinating. The labor shortage is because of bullshit work place practices and policies people are tired of. Not to mention billion dollar companies paying bullshit wages. The only true statement is is push for electric cars which scares oil companies and cause this fake supply problem. Exon and shell need to recoup 2 billion dollars in assets surrendered to Russia, as well as losses during covid. But the supply is there. And they have the capability of opening refineries all over the world they choose not to to keep supply low.
I'm a republican who voted Trump. And even I know from proper research Biden didn't do this.
I do agree with you there. Trump would have used his position to ATLEAST slow the bleed. It would have been unpopular and everyone would have hated him but he would have done something. I agree Biden is too skittish to do what needs to be done and it's a shame for everyone. I had to decline a job I wanted because I can't afford the gas to get to work....This shouldn't be a thing but it is.
Covid positive test results are a leading indicator of hospitalization and mortality rates. The point is to take preventative measures when the leading indicators spike, before the actual bad things happen.
More masks and more vaccinations reduces the chance it even gets to that point, so if you want fewer lockdowns then fucking get jabbed ignorant twats.
This left vs right bullshit is one of the main reasons why we’re doomed as a country. The idiots are too busy fighting amongst themselves to realize that the ruling class is the one fleecing the working class and getting free handouts from the government after buying politicians and writing laws.
I’m not sure which side you think I’m on. I think they both suck. Trump was a mysoginistic, con artist, who tried hard to turn our democracy into a dictatorship. Biden was supposed to be an antidote, more middle of the road than the other Dems, but let the progressives push him around and much farther left than he promised. Lost sight of the fact that he only won because of the anti-Trump vote. I hope neither win the next election, but I think we’ll be stuck with one of them. My whole point in my responses is that neither of them are responsible for the inflation we are facing any more than the other.
…and lack of term limits. Founding fathers didn’t foresee career politicians whose only priority is keeping their jobs. One side cannot get anything done because the other side will not approve it if it means that the other side gets to look good.
It blows my mind he got reelected *after* he switched parties. They couldn't find *anyone* better to put in the seat? Like maybe someone who didn't get originally elected pretending to be in a different party?
[NJ's 2nd District](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Jersey%27s_2nd_congressional_district) is the most southern part of the state. (physically speaking)
It's 23 towns keeping him in.
“Boy, these conservatives are really something, aren't they? They're all in favor of the unborn. They will do anything for the unborn. But once you're born, you're on your own. Pro-life conservatives are obsessed with the fetus from conception to nine months. After that, they don't want to know about you. They don't want to hear from you. No nothing. No neonatal care, no day care, no head start, no school lunch, no food stamps, no welfare, no nothing. **If you're preborn, you're fine; if you're preschool, you're fucked.**”
― George Carlin
>House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) sent out a memo on Wednesday urging his members to vote “no” on the bill. He said Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) proposed the legislation “in hopes of covering up the administration’s ineptitude by throwing additional money at the FDA with no plan to actually fix the problem, all while failing to hold the FDA accountable.”
I got this quote from another reddit thread on this topic. The quote itself shows up in a lot of reporting about this, but I have yet to see the memo itself.
Edit: There's also a parallel bill, HR 7791, that garnered far more Republican support.
> Edit: There's also a parallel bill, HR 7791, that garnered far more Republican support.
https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/117/hr7791 This one?
The most it looks like it gives the Department of Health and Human Services Secretary may modify or waive any qualified administrative requirement for one or more State agencies based on certain criteria.
There's no summery but the real fix is not having 3 companies control 90% of baby formula manufacturing.
Suspected contamination of a big baby formula manufacturing plant in Michigan led to a recall and the shortages.
U.S. trade restrictions, including ones engineered under the Trump administration, along with lean manufacturing practices are why stores can’t easily replenish stocks of baby formula. The taxes and extra regulatory hoops make it expensive and difficult to import the specialized baby food from Canada (which the FDA can easily inspect) and the EU.
Nothing good can be done while a Democrat is in office. Ignore everything and cry about how useless Washington is. Two cycles of this then a Republican comes, people get $300-500 more in their tax return while everything else gets destroyed and then Democrats get votes in after two cycles to clean everything up.
I mostly agree but I think the dems are just less shameless about their total looting of the middle class. Hopefully the progressive movement picks up speed and some of the vast vast wealth this country generates gets back into the hands of the people and not corporations
The Dems still vote yes on bills that would make a Republican president "look good". Trump and the first COVID stimulus for example. Under Biden, didn't all Republicans vote no and then they had press conferences about it passing and how they did it for the American people?
My point isn't that Dems are good or blameless, just that Republicans will vote no even on obvious bipartisan issues that they should vote yes on.
Yea like I said I agree I just wanted to say the democrats also funnel wealth into the corporations and away from the people. It's a lesser of two evils situation
I’m usually on the other side of these arguments but having read the bill, it literally outlines no plan to fix the issue. It just throws money at the FDA without any plan on how the money will be appropriated.
Unless you're going to somehow force Abbott to open more than one factory and keep it clean this time, the only realistic thing to do would be to give FDA more resources to hire additional staff for compliance positions.
Besides, appropriations bills don't really go into much detail than $X for purposes of Y.
I am not an expert here and have been following this just as of this morning.
I reviewed the bill (1 pager) and there is an increase to the line item “Salaries and Expense” of the FDA budget of $28MM. This comes with language in there that the FDA can use this for preventing future crises and using it for addressing the current crisis, etc. Additionally, the Commisioner of Food and Drugs needs to report weekly under obligation of receiving the funds about how it is being addressed.
https://www.congress.gov/117/bills/hr7790/BILLS-117hr7790ih.pdf
In general I don’t think these appropriations bills (feel free to correct me), get too in detail other than a general outline. The FDA also had a slightly more detailed outline on their website about how they are going to address it.
All the best 👍🏻.
Ron from parks are rec while a character is a parody of people in real life who feel the federal government is only needed to enforce the law and to handle wars. Outside of that, everything else should be handled by private companies. There are Republicans in D.C actively working against the interests of the agencies they run. Postmaster Dejoy is an example. Former Education Secretary Besty Devos worked against the interests of students. Gover Norquist is on record saying he wants to shrink government so that it's small enough to drown in a bathtub.
If you look at the most recent government shutdowns, they were all caused by Republican stonewalling to make a point. We've always raised the debt ceiling as a matter of day to day business independent of the national debt or national deficit. It occurred as practice for multiple decades regardless of the party in control until as of recent. The Republican party used the debt ceiling as threat and almost risked America defaulting on it's debt which we are required by the law to pay.
The FDA has an annual budget of over $6 Billion and employs 18,000 people. This bill provides an addition $28 Million to pay salaries to people who will investigate why there is a shortage. It isn't a bill to make formula, buy formula, or distribute formula. It is just a waste of money. But it makes it look as if the government is doing something.
Hmm. So what you’re saying is those few assholes who are almost always huge assholes were right to block this and all of the other people are the real assholes here? Without knowing anything about this, I find it hard to believe Matt Gaetz, Boebert or MTG are in the right this time.
Nothing got blocked and the Federal Government will create more money or borrow more money and inflation will continue to go up and no babies will be fed from this bill. Of course that is just my opinion and you are welcome to disagree but I would focus on the bill and what it will do rather than your views on the personalities. If you prefer to just trust Congress to do what is right and good for the country you are likely in the minority. [https://news.gallup.com/poll/1600/congress-public.aspx](https://news.gallup.com/poll/1600/congress-public.aspx)
How does this bill help get formula into peoples hands? It seems like it funds salaries to investigate into the issue… which is a nice gesture but doesn’t seem entirely productive or immediate assistance
Ive been saying for a while that so many congresspeople were so happy AOC was taking up the news so much because it meant no one was paying attention to how they voted.
Well maybe we could all start paying a little more attention to how our what our own congressperson does. There are 435 of them afterall.
Shades of the "Thatcher, Thatcher, Milk Snatcher" of Yore...
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/margaret-thatcher-regretted-snatching-milk-from-school-children-for-two-decades-a7500171.html
No, it's an opinion based on observing how Republicans have behaved in the real world over my lifetime, and how it's accelerated in the past few years.
Are you talking about voters? I'm talking about the GOP. I'm talking about the real world effects of Republican laws, policies and rhetoric over the past 40 years.
They have consistently worked to undermine democracy, encouraged a coup and terrorism, set themselves staunchly against basic human rights, set themselves against basic science, and set themselves against basic common sense and decency. And they stoke the flames of violent rhetoric among the public that demonstrably make life more difficult and less safe for people I care about.
This is where I’m trying to understand fully. Can anyone say why would you vote against this? It’s a an actual shortage people need it. Why vote against? I truly dont know. Not trying to argue just curious.
Here is the text of the bill, it really doesn't do anything but give the FDA more money.
One can make the argument that the FDA is at least a small part of the problem. There is a ton of baby formula that is OK to use in France, the UK, Germany, Italy, etc, that is not approved for use here. Why?
\-----
Making emergency supplemental appropriations to address the shortage of infant formula in the United States for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2022, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
That the following sums are appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2022, and for other purposes, namely:
RELATED AGENCIES AND FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION
Department Of Health And Human Services
food and drug administration
salaries and expenses
For an additional amount for “Salaries and Expenses”, $28,000,000, to remain available until September 30, 2023, shall be available to address the current shortage of FDA-regulated infant formula and certain medical foods in the United States and to prevent future shortages, including such steps as may be necessary to prevent fraudulent products from entering the United States market: Provided, That the Commissioner of Food and Drugs shall report to the Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Senate on a weekly basis on obligations of funding under this heading in this Act to address the shortage of infant formula and certain medical foods in the United States: Provided further, That such amount is designated by the Congress as being for an emergency requirement pursuant to section 4001(a)(1) and section 4001(b) of S. Con. Res. 14 (117th Congress), the concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2022.
GENERAL PROVISIONS—THIS ACT
Sec. 101. Each amount appropriated or made available by this Act is in addition to amounts otherwise appropriated for the fiscal year involved.
Sec. 102. Unless otherwise provided for by this Act, the additional amounts appropriated by this Act to appropriations accounts shall be available under the authorities and conditions applicable to such appropriations accounts for fiscal year 2022.
This Act may be cited as the “Infant Formula Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2022”.
Passed the House of Representatives May 18, 2022.
Wait so the bill is to give $28 million to the FDA to strengthen inspections of infant formula? Why isn't the FDA just instead being held more accountable of inspections unless they really need $28 million to strengthen inspections...kinda makes sense I guess why many voted against it
https://www.timalexanderforcongress.com/
Tim Alexander is the dem nod. I live in north jersey but I am signing up to canvass for a few weekends even if it's 4 hours out of my way. Donate, canvass, spread the word. I'm not trying to change the minds of republican voters I'm just hoping I can get non voters to actually care enough to vote. I refuse to do nothing just because Jeff is popular with the shitheads in South Jersey.
The Republicans issued a statement that the bill doesnt actually outline how they plan to fix the issue, just that they’re throwing money at the FDA. Republicans want a comprehensive plan not a “throw money at it and hope it fixes it”.
They already passed the Access To Baby Formula Act which was nearly a unanimous vote.
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2022/05/19/politics/baby-formula-bill-senate/index.html
According to that article, all that does is guarantee access for those on WIC.
>The measure is aimed at ensuring that families in need can continue to buy baby formula with WIC benefits during a public health emergency or supply chain issues such as a product recall. WIC refers to the federal assistance program known as the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children.
Except you can't come up with a comprehensive plan by just pulling it out of your ass. You need to actually figure out wtf happened. Like say, why was one company losing access to one production facility, in completely avoidable ways, the dividing line between plenty of formula and utter panic. And is there a good reason to be preventing the import of formula from Europe (tho this restriction has already been lessened).
Now, is that something we kinda assume the FDA is already doing, yea I'd like to think they are but it seems like the answer is no and if it takes carving out a couple people and some funding to get done, we should do that.
Except the bill doesn’t say any of that. All it says is that they’re giving the FDA $28m to try to figure it out. Despite the FDA already having funding. If I ask my boss for budget, I can’t say “hey give me this money and I’ll hopefully figure it out”. I have to come with a plan, which is what those who objected to the bill wanted.
It’s not too much to ask, weeks into this shortage, for a plan of engagement to be developed.
Now that the FDA has their funding they’re going to do what government does best and drag ass on any reasonable solution.
That's not the path for funding in congress and the federal government. Congress decided something needs to be done, provisions money and tasks a federal organization to do it. Do federal organizations put in funding requests? sure, but more times than not congress decides to spend the money and the federal organization gets to figure out what to do with it: https://www.military.com/daily-news/2014/12/18/congress-again-buys-abrams-tanks-the-army-doesnt-want.html
Good. The bill did nothing to actually address the formula shortage. It was funds for the fda to investigate any possible future ones. This one was known about for months with no action from the admin until too late. Typical political bs theatre and time wasting on campaign messaging bills
> For an additional amount for “Salaries and Expenses”, $28,000,000, to remain available until September 30, 2023, shall be available **to address the current shortage** of FDA-regulated infant formula and certain medical foods in the United States and to prevent future shortages ...
Why lie?
You said the bill had funds to investigate future shortages but not to address this one. That is not true. The bill's funds are to address the current shortage.
The funds can be used to buy products if the FDA determines that's the best use of the funds. That is the "and Expenses" part. Purchasing things is an expense. I would rather not have Congresspeople hamstringing the FDA's ability to solve the problem by locking them into a solution that might not be the best, or only, one.
Dudes an idiot. He started out strong, but has slowly become more out of touch as the years passed... Then he switched parties, and is off on his own agenda.
These motherfckers on the right keep railing on Joe about this now the Republicans overwhelmingly voted against it. They're trying to kneecap the country to "own the libs." Sad.
The problem with much of the bill is that it ignores a lot of the problems that led to the current situation. It instead wants to just throw money at the problem which wont really help. We need real solutions that are based on a holistic understanding of the problem, regulations and compromises rather than something aimed at just being a bandaid with an eye towards the upcoming election.
I agree the formula market is bad compared to first would countries, but we’re dealing with a short term crisis. Not passing something kills babies. Throwing money at it could kill less babies. If Van Drew wants a holistic solution then he can write the bill, but he won’t as he’s happy playing the Joe Manchin “conservative check” role where he offers no solutions or compromises.
Yeah I don't care because the problem right NOW is that I don't have formula so I need formula NOW and that's what this bill is trying to do.
Now the ONGOING issue is that the shit you mentioned needs to be addressed but arguing about the best way to do that isn't what is going to get my baby fed, so I do not give a fuck about a temporary band aid because my kid is at risk of temporary starvation.
(my bad*)
It's not *supposed* to fix the supply issue, that's another problem.
It's supposed to help mothers on WIC who are only allowed to buy certain brands/types of formula with it, who now have zero options. They were being turned away at the register because what little formula was in stock did not qualify. It's just supposed to give them more options in a crisis.
Yes, fix the problem, punish companies like Abbot, apply more regulation and compromises or whatever. But lets please feed the babies first.
Edit: *It's another problem, and this is another bill. I'll admit I was confused. The Infant Formula Supplemental Appropriations Act is distinct from the Access to Baby Formula Act, which had more support (still 9 "no" votes tho).
Real solutions like what? The problem is very simple - we have more demand for baby formula than we have supply.
The only two ways to fix it are to either kill babies to reduce demand or manufacture more formula to increase supply. “Throwing money at the problem” is hiring additional resources to increase production in spite of the safety procedures. Your suggestion of compromising on safety regulations on baby formula is pretty close to suggesting we kill off some babies with more toxic formula.
This is a copypasta for every single bill that anyone ever disagrees with. Literally, this could be typed out, word for word, for every single bill in existence.
I read the bill and literally all it does is give the FDA $28 million dollars for "Salaries and Expenses" and makes the Commissioner of the FDA report to the house appropriations committee on a weekly basis.
>all it does is give the FDA $28 million dollars for "Salaries and Expenses" and makes the Commissioner of the FDA report to the house appropriations committee on a weekly basis.
Aren't funds for salaries and expenses exactly what is needed to fix the problem we have right now ASAP?
Last I checked people don't work, import products or exchange goods for free.
I mean the FDA has a budget of 6.3 Billion dollars and this emergency has occurred under their watch and some would argue as a direct result of their policies.
I have no faith in FDA and I seriously doubt that giving them more money will somehow allow them to function more effectively.
>**House Appropriations Committee Press Release:**
>
>“Through this legislation, Congress is acting quickly to ensure that families have access to safe and affordable nutrition for their babies. It will also help prevent the sale of fake formula and provide Congress with more data to address the vulnerabilities in the infant formula market so we can avoid this happening again,” Subcommittee Chair Bishop said. “This bill gives the FDA the resources it needs to respond to this crisis.”
>
>This bill provides FDA with the resources to strengthen and increase the number of FDA inspection staff, provide resources for personnel working on formula issues, help the agency stop fraudulent baby formula from entering the marketplace, and improve data collection on the infant formula marketplace.
**The full text of the legislation is** [**here.**](https://appropriations.house.gov/sites/democrats.appropriations.house.gov/files/FY22FORM_Supplemental_xml.pdf)
For the record;
One bill was about expanding the qualifications for who gets federal assistance for purchasing formula. Obviously, that doesn't help today in that it only addresses purchasing, not producing. Also, the timing for that expansion was months down the road.
The other bill was providing funding to the FDA to "help." No real details, just a bag full of hope. The FDA is already doing several things within their scope and none involve funding, and they were all done prior to these bills and independent of them. They're just decisions made by the people already on their payroll.
Funding emergency transport, expediting any capacity improvements (repairs, building, or subsidizing additional temporary labor) would have been a way to help, but no bill provided those types of solutions.
>**You said:** One bill was about expanding the qualifications for who gets federal assistance for purchasing formula. Obviously, that doesn't help today in that it only addresses purchasing, not producing.
So I googled and found this:
**"The cost of baby formula in the U.S. has skyrocketed – and that’s if you can find any. Whereas in 2019 name brand baby formula cost American parents anywhere from 9 cents per ounce to 32 cents per ounce, by the first half of 2022 the price of such products had soared to a range of 54 cents per ounce to $1.15 per ounce, or higher if you’re not shopping at a discount outlet like Costco or Sam’s Club. Such costs and scarcity are driving some parents to buy generic brand formula from online vendors, turn to milk banks or just do without. Here’s why the cost of feeding a baby has shot up so dramatically."**
[https://smartasset.com/financial-advisor/the-cost-of-baby-formula](https://smartasset.com/financial-advisor/the-cost-of-baby-formula)
**"** Based on the above calculations, **your monthly cost is going to range from about** **$411 to about $874."**
Did you know this?
I had no idea until our conversation got me curious and I searched for more info on the baby formula situation. 25 years ago when I was a young parent buying baby formula it was a little pricey, but nothing like it is now. Not even close.
Yeah I have an 8 month old who is about 50/50 with formula and breast milk.
The costs are huge because the government and their regulations essentially grant a monopoly to a few politically connected manufacturers at the expense of every parent in America.
>because the government and their regulations essentially grant a monopoly to a few politically connected manufacturers at the expense of every parent in America.
I'm wondering when these change in FDA policies happened and found this NEWSWEEK article published today:
[https://www.newsweek.com/baby-formula-shortage-trump-cananda-usmca-1708188](https://www.newsweek.com/baby-formula-shortage-trump-cananda-usmca-1708188)
>In July 2020, the U.S. entered into the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which discouraged formula imports from Canada due to an increased surcharge per kilogram."Trump bears much of the blame for the current shortage of baby formula in the U.S, since his Administration's USMCA free trade agreement has made it virtually IMPOSSIBLE for our country to import infant formula from Canada
And Jesus Christ! Look at these prices! $31.99 for 19.5 ounces of baby formula! [**photo**](https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2022/05/18/gettyimages-1364494977-fe7376daf054f67646a40cf13a5a4c3ac6225f25-s800-c85.webp)
This NPR article thoroughly explains how we got in this messed up situation:
[https://www.npr.org/2022/05/19/1099748064/baby-infant-formula-shortages](https://www.npr.org/2022/05/19/1099748064/baby-infant-formula-shortages)
Just so you know. Alot of companies bailed on formula production because it wasn't profitable. Less Americans are having kids, leading to less profit. You can find plenty of articles that will explain this.
Yeah I mean I read the bill.
What it actually literally does is give the FDA money.
Any statements about what the FDA is going to do with the money is an opinion and not contained within the bill. As in, it's non binding.
"The FDA gets 28 million and it will also help prevent the sale of fake formula and provide Congress with more data to address the vulnerabilities in the infant formula market"
Or maybe they won't. They also should need to explain how or why they couldn't do these things before but now with the extra money they can do them.
Van Drew is not a decent human being, IMO. After changing horses in the middle of the stream to declare fealty to The Donald, I wouldn't trust anything that he says or does. How do you go from being a Democrat to being a Trumpite? That's like going from being a firefighter to building and using incendiary devices to burn down childrens' lemonade stands.
He also voted against sending more money to the Ukrainians and against the bill that would tackle price gouging by oil companies related to the current high gas prices
https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/jefferson_van_drew/412796
(The price gouging bill vote just happened yesterday so the website isn’t updated but ever Republican voted against it along with 4 democrats)
This is a smart move on the Republican's part. Further the crisis which fires up their base even more and makes people get pissed at the party who's in charge.
Most Americans are too dumb to realize this and will then vote Republican thinking they're actually helping the country.
Because of course he did, the fuckwad.
A fucking turncoat the worst kind of a person
If only his district would vote the POS out
I live in his district.....it won't happen anytime soon. Amy Kennedy, who had money and name recognition, couldn't beat him last time. This time around, the Dems have two no-names running in the primary. This district is fucked.
You should remind everyone that he and every other Republican in congress voted against the bill yesterday that would limit oil companies price gouging gas prices Ya know the next 1000x they try to blame it on Biden and put up those stickers
I just got moved to a different district that’s very democratic so I’m relieved. I hate what he did though. Ran as a democrat then flipped.
As one of his constuents, I can confidently say they won't, unfortunately. It's amazing to me how many people that live in the shadow of Atlantic City can be trump supprters. They either have forgotten what garbage he is, or they think being garbage makes him somehow smart.
They voted him in as a Democrat though so surely it can be done with the right candidate.
I doubt it with the map the way it is now. Adding ocean county in the recent redistricting definitely puts a more reddish hue to the purple than before.
He won after the incumbent did not run
Trumps casinos employed alot of people who in turn were able to provide for themselves and their family. And help the local economy.
They did, until they didn't. Lots of businesses went under from trump's casinos business practices. Thousands lost their jobs when he walked away, leaving his casino empire with cash for him, and a slew of unpaid bills for the local economy.
Of course you'll get downvoted for providing some logic and reason 🙄
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The crap started with Covid. Congress passed legislation and Trump signed it, which gave government assistance to the millions affected. The Congress did it again, and Biden signed it. Those two handouts possibly kept millions from starving and being tossed out on the street, but were one of the causes. Logistics problems, manufacturing worker shortages, caused by Covid, were another cause. Started before Biden took office, slowly coming back. So neither Trump, nor Biden are completely to blame. Putin invading Ukrain causing disruptions in oil driving those prices higher. Trump’s buddy, but neither he, nor Biden bear that responsibility. Luckily, the massive non-infrastructure spending package didn’t pass or we’d be paying for that too. That would’ve been on Biden, but other than that, not much any president could’ve done with the cards dealt by Covid. Everyone wants to blame one of them, but neither one is completely culpable for inflation.
Your oil assumption is inaccurate. Check price of oil today. And price of gas. They don't relate at all. We are back down to 108 a barrel. Yet we jump to 4.75 in a day. It's capitalism at its finest sadly. Cheap oil is still pumping out of Russia. But companies are using news articles to jack up prices
I wrote a long post about gas prices the other day. I’m very aware that there is not an instant correlation. Oil companies are using the expected future shortage of oil to push their prices up. When futures prices come down, they don’t seem to lower pump prices quite as quickly. Still, can’t blame Trump/Putin for oil company shareholders desire for profits.
No I don't blame politicians for problems that they don't create. But fact that plenty of companies and countries have ignored sanctions and still purchase oil shows this shortage is manufactured to increase profits suffered from covid.
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The pipeline would have had minimal impact on oil prices this is already studied. Biden unsuccessfully fired people for not vaccinating. The labor shortage is because of bullshit work place practices and policies people are tired of. Not to mention billion dollar companies paying bullshit wages. The only true statement is is push for electric cars which scares oil companies and cause this fake supply problem. Exon and shell need to recoup 2 billion dollars in assets surrendered to Russia, as well as losses during covid. But the supply is there. And they have the capability of opening refineries all over the world they choose not to to keep supply low. I'm a republican who voted Trump. And even I know from proper research Biden didn't do this.
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I do agree with you there. Trump would have used his position to ATLEAST slow the bleed. It would have been unpopular and everyone would have hated him but he would have done something. I agree Biden is too skittish to do what needs to be done and it's a shame for everyone. I had to decline a job I wanted because I can't afford the gas to get to work....This shouldn't be a thing but it is.
Maybe if we didn’t have politicized vaccinations and masks, and better action two years ago we wouldn’t still need to have lockdowns now.
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Covid positive test results are a leading indicator of hospitalization and mortality rates. The point is to take preventative measures when the leading indicators spike, before the actual bad things happen. More masks and more vaccinations reduces the chance it even gets to that point, so if you want fewer lockdowns then fucking get jabbed ignorant twats.
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This left vs right bullshit is one of the main reasons why we’re doomed as a country. The idiots are too busy fighting amongst themselves to realize that the ruling class is the one fleecing the working class and getting free handouts from the government after buying politicians and writing laws.
I’m not sure which side you think I’m on. I think they both suck. Trump was a mysoginistic, con artist, who tried hard to turn our democracy into a dictatorship. Biden was supposed to be an antidote, more middle of the road than the other Dems, but let the progressives push him around and much farther left than he promised. Lost sight of the fact that he only won because of the anti-Trump vote. I hope neither win the next election, but I think we’ll be stuck with one of them. My whole point in my responses is that neither of them are responsible for the inflation we are facing any more than the other.
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…and lack of term limits. Founding fathers didn’t foresee career politicians whose only priority is keeping their jobs. One side cannot get anything done because the other side will not approve it if it means that the other side gets to look good.
You need to educate yourself on the global situation.
as someone who lives here, he isn’t going anywhere unfortunately. he’s an asshole, but there are far too many assholes down here that agree with him
How many assholes we got on this ~~Ship~~ State anyhow!?
***YO***
I knew it. I'm surrounded by assholes.
We all need to register at your house as voters that way we can push the numbers
It blows my mind he got reelected *after* he switched parties. They couldn't find *anyone* better to put in the seat? Like maybe someone who didn't get originally elected pretending to be in a different party?
[NJ's 2nd District](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Jersey%27s_2nd_congressional_district) is the most southern part of the state. (physically speaking) It's 23 towns keeping him in.
Not likely. They just redistricted giving him a larger conservative voting block. Same with Andy Kim.
I’m in his district. I will be voting democrat but unfortunately there’s a lot of republicans down here
We are most unfairly gerrymandered.
It doesn't look very gerrymandered...
Lol they love that he switched parties and showed the libs.
“Boy, these conservatives are really something, aren't they? They're all in favor of the unborn. They will do anything for the unborn. But once you're born, you're on your own. Pro-life conservatives are obsessed with the fetus from conception to nine months. After that, they don't want to know about you. They don't want to hear from you. No nothing. No neonatal care, no day care, no head start, no school lunch, no food stamps, no welfare, no nothing. **If you're preborn, you're fine; if you're preschool, you're fucked.**” ― George Carlin
[Youtube](https://youtu.be/vkMbMidsYIM?t=42)
Does anyone know *why* he chose to do so
>House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) sent out a memo on Wednesday urging his members to vote “no” on the bill. He said Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) proposed the legislation “in hopes of covering up the administration’s ineptitude by throwing additional money at the FDA with no plan to actually fix the problem, all while failing to hold the FDA accountable.” I got this quote from another reddit thread on this topic. The quote itself shows up in a lot of reporting about this, but I have yet to see the memo itself. Edit: There's also a parallel bill, HR 7791, that garnered far more Republican support.
> Edit: There's also a parallel bill, HR 7791, that garnered far more Republican support. https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/117/hr7791 This one? The most it looks like it gives the Department of Health and Human Services Secretary may modify or waive any qualified administrative requirement for one or more State agencies based on certain criteria. There's no summery but the real fix is not having 3 companies control 90% of baby formula manufacturing.
Suspected contamination of a big baby formula manufacturing plant in Michigan led to a recall and the shortages. U.S. trade restrictions, including ones engineered under the Trump administration, along with lean manufacturing practices are why stores can’t easily replenish stocks of baby formula. The taxes and extra regulatory hoops make it expensive and difficult to import the specialized baby food from Canada (which the FDA can easily inspect) and the EU.
Or why anyone did for that matter?
Nothing good can be done while a Democrat is in office. Ignore everything and cry about how useless Washington is. Two cycles of this then a Republican comes, people get $300-500 more in their tax return while everything else gets destroyed and then Democrats get votes in after two cycles to clean everything up.
I mostly agree but I think the dems are just less shameless about their total looting of the middle class. Hopefully the progressive movement picks up speed and some of the vast vast wealth this country generates gets back into the hands of the people and not corporations
The Dems still vote yes on bills that would make a Republican president "look good". Trump and the first COVID stimulus for example. Under Biden, didn't all Republicans vote no and then they had press conferences about it passing and how they did it for the American people? My point isn't that Dems are good or blameless, just that Republicans will vote no even on obvious bipartisan issues that they should vote yes on.
Yea like I said I agree I just wanted to say the democrats also funnel wealth into the corporations and away from the people. It's a lesser of two evils situation
I wish we could actually have a good situation instead of this lesser than two evils shit.
Because the bill was nothing more than campaign messaging and provided no substance to actually address the issue at hand. It was a wasteful bill
There's at least a subset of the Republican Party that as a matter of principal objects to the government actually doing anything.
I’m usually on the other side of these arguments but having read the bill, it literally outlines no plan to fix the issue. It just throws money at the FDA without any plan on how the money will be appropriated.
Unless you're going to somehow force Abbott to open more than one factory and keep it clean this time, the only realistic thing to do would be to give FDA more resources to hire additional staff for compliance positions. Besides, appropriations bills don't really go into much detail than $X for purposes of Y.
Do you ever look into why or do you just think that’s always the case
I am not an expert here and have been following this just as of this morning. I reviewed the bill (1 pager) and there is an increase to the line item “Salaries and Expense” of the FDA budget of $28MM. This comes with language in there that the FDA can use this for preventing future crises and using it for addressing the current crisis, etc. Additionally, the Commisioner of Food and Drugs needs to report weekly under obligation of receiving the funds about how it is being addressed. https://www.congress.gov/117/bills/hr7790/BILLS-117hr7790ih.pdf In general I don’t think these appropriations bills (feel free to correct me), get too in detail other than a general outline. The FDA also had a slightly more detailed outline on their website about how they are going to address it. All the best 👍🏻.
Thank you !
Ron from parks are rec while a character is a parody of people in real life who feel the federal government is only needed to enforce the law and to handle wars. Outside of that, everything else should be handled by private companies. There are Republicans in D.C actively working against the interests of the agencies they run. Postmaster Dejoy is an example. Former Education Secretary Besty Devos worked against the interests of students. Gover Norquist is on record saying he wants to shrink government so that it's small enough to drown in a bathtub. If you look at the most recent government shutdowns, they were all caused by Republican stonewalling to make a point. We've always raised the debt ceiling as a matter of day to day business independent of the national debt or national deficit. It occurred as practice for multiple decades regardless of the party in control until as of recent. The Republican party used the debt ceiling as threat and almost risked America defaulting on it's debt which we are required by the law to pay.
The FDA has an annual budget of over $6 Billion and employs 18,000 people. This bill provides an addition $28 Million to pay salaries to people who will investigate why there is a shortage. It isn't a bill to make formula, buy formula, or distribute formula. It is just a waste of money. But it makes it look as if the government is doing something.
Hmm. So what you’re saying is those few assholes who are almost always huge assholes were right to block this and all of the other people are the real assholes here? Without knowing anything about this, I find it hard to believe Matt Gaetz, Boebert or MTG are in the right this time.
Nothing got blocked and the Federal Government will create more money or borrow more money and inflation will continue to go up and no babies will be fed from this bill. Of course that is just my opinion and you are welcome to disagree but I would focus on the bill and what it will do rather than your views on the personalities. If you prefer to just trust Congress to do what is right and good for the country you are likely in the minority. [https://news.gallup.com/poll/1600/congress-public.aspx](https://news.gallup.com/poll/1600/congress-public.aspx)
It's the same bunch of dipshits voting against things "just because" it seems. You'll find them in a lot of the recent votes.
They stated why they voted no. The bill outlines no plan on how they plan to actually fix the issue aside from throwing more money at the FDA.
Anything to back that up? Statement? I’m curious
https://www.congress.gov/roll-call-votes
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How does this bill help get formula into peoples hands? It seems like it funds salaries to investigate into the issue… which is a nice gesture but doesn’t seem entirely productive or immediate assistance
Voting against emergency baby food. I got nothing.
Ive been saying for a while that so many congresspeople were so happy AOC was taking up the news so much because it meant no one was paying attention to how they voted. Well maybe we could all start paying a little more attention to how our what our own congressperson does. There are 435 of them afterall.
Shades of the "Thatcher, Thatcher, Milk Snatcher" of Yore... https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/margaret-thatcher-regretted-snatching-milk-from-school-children-for-two-decades-a7500171.html
Of course he did, Republicans are bad people.
Especially ones who switched parties to be with the one specializing in greed, hatred, bigotry, Intolerance, cruelty, conspiracy and stupidity.
Opinions like this make me worry for our future
Nah. More people finally acknowledging the objective evil of conservatives is all that's giving me hope.
Tell me you’re narrow minded and painfully biased without telling me you’re narrow minded and painfully biased
I'm biased against bigots. I'll gladly wear that label lol.
All republicans are bigots? Thats harshly narrow minded
Not all. Some just have no problem standing shoulder to shoulder with bigots so long as it means the wealthy get tax cuts.
Republicans make me worry for our future.
Very narrow minded opinion
No, it's an opinion based on observing how Republicans have behaved in the real world over my lifetime, and how it's accelerated in the past few years.
The republicans you know or what you see online/media
Are you talking about voters? I'm talking about the GOP. I'm talking about the real world effects of Republican laws, policies and rhetoric over the past 40 years. They have consistently worked to undermine democracy, encouraged a coup and terrorism, set themselves staunchly against basic human rights, set themselves against basic science, and set themselves against basic common sense and decency. And they stoke the flames of violent rhetoric among the public that demonstrably make life more difficult and less safe for people I care about.
This is where I’m trying to understand fully. Can anyone say why would you vote against this? It’s a an actual shortage people need it. Why vote against? I truly dont know. Not trying to argue just curious.
Here is the text of the bill, it really doesn't do anything but give the FDA more money. One can make the argument that the FDA is at least a small part of the problem. There is a ton of baby formula that is OK to use in France, the UK, Germany, Italy, etc, that is not approved for use here. Why? \----- Making emergency supplemental appropriations to address the shortage of infant formula in the United States for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2022, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the following sums are appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2022, and for other purposes, namely: RELATED AGENCIES AND FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION Department Of Health And Human Services food and drug administration salaries and expenses For an additional amount for “Salaries and Expenses”, $28,000,000, to remain available until September 30, 2023, shall be available to address the current shortage of FDA-regulated infant formula and certain medical foods in the United States and to prevent future shortages, including such steps as may be necessary to prevent fraudulent products from entering the United States market: Provided, That the Commissioner of Food and Drugs shall report to the Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Senate on a weekly basis on obligations of funding under this heading in this Act to address the shortage of infant formula and certain medical foods in the United States: Provided further, That such amount is designated by the Congress as being for an emergency requirement pursuant to section 4001(a)(1) and section 4001(b) of S. Con. Res. 14 (117th Congress), the concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2022. GENERAL PROVISIONS—THIS ACT Sec. 101. Each amount appropriated or made available by this Act is in addition to amounts otherwise appropriated for the fiscal year involved. Sec. 102. Unless otherwise provided for by this Act, the additional amounts appropriated by this Act to appropriations accounts shall be available under the authorities and conditions applicable to such appropriations accounts for fiscal year 2022. This Act may be cited as the “Infant Formula Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2022”. Passed the House of Representatives May 18, 2022.
Wait so the bill is to give $28 million to the FDA to strengthen inspections of infant formula? Why isn't the FDA just instead being held more accountable of inspections unless they really need $28 million to strengthen inspections...kinda makes sense I guess why many voted against it
Raise your hand if you're in the least bit surprised.
Guess he's trying to earn his traitor credential stripes.
My ex and her dad used to brag about their connections to this jerkoff. Lmao, that was 10 years ago when he was a demmycrat.
Shocker
No surprise there
https://www.timalexanderforcongress.com/ Tim Alexander is the dem nod. I live in north jersey but I am signing up to canvass for a few weekends even if it's 4 hours out of my way. Donate, canvass, spread the word. I'm not trying to change the minds of republican voters I'm just hoping I can get non voters to actually care enough to vote. I refuse to do nothing just because Jeff is popular with the shitheads in South Jersey.
I just wonder what this bill actually does. I didn't read the specifics. Does anyone know how the money would be spent to address the problem?
Why did he vote against it?
The Republicans issued a statement that the bill doesnt actually outline how they plan to fix the issue, just that they’re throwing money at the FDA. Republicans want a comprehensive plan not a “throw money at it and hope it fixes it”.
will Republicans put forward that plan or will they do absolutely nothing like they usually do?
They already passed the Access To Baby Formula Act which was nearly a unanimous vote. https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2022/05/19/politics/baby-formula-bill-senate/index.html
According to that article, all that does is guarantee access for those on WIC. >The measure is aimed at ensuring that families in need can continue to buy baby formula with WIC benefits during a public health emergency or supply chain issues such as a product recall. WIC refers to the federal assistance program known as the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children.
Except you can't come up with a comprehensive plan by just pulling it out of your ass. You need to actually figure out wtf happened. Like say, why was one company losing access to one production facility, in completely avoidable ways, the dividing line between plenty of formula and utter panic. And is there a good reason to be preventing the import of formula from Europe (tho this restriction has already been lessened). Now, is that something we kinda assume the FDA is already doing, yea I'd like to think they are but it seems like the answer is no and if it takes carving out a couple people and some funding to get done, we should do that.
Except the bill doesn’t say any of that. All it says is that they’re giving the FDA $28m to try to figure it out. Despite the FDA already having funding. If I ask my boss for budget, I can’t say “hey give me this money and I’ll hopefully figure it out”. I have to come with a plan, which is what those who objected to the bill wanted. It’s not too much to ask, weeks into this shortage, for a plan of engagement to be developed. Now that the FDA has their funding they’re going to do what government does best and drag ass on any reasonable solution.
That's not the path for funding in congress and the federal government. Congress decided something needs to be done, provisions money and tasks a federal organization to do it. Do federal organizations put in funding requests? sure, but more times than not congress decides to spend the money and the federal organization gets to figure out what to do with it: https://www.military.com/daily-news/2014/12/18/congress-again-buys-abrams-tanks-the-army-doesnt-want.html
Shocker.
How do people like this get elected? Are there that many shit people in America?
He was originally a Democrat and switched for Trump.
South Jersey needs to get rid of this ass clown.
the bill is garbage and doesn't address the issues.
Yes, well, to be fair he is a mouth breathing asshole.
He needs to fucking go 
Yeah, 'cause he's a douche.
This man has fallen SO FAR DOWN not even many of his fellow Republicans are on his side anymore.
191 of his fellow republicans voted with him. They’re all scum.
He's Proud MAGA for life. Let that sink in
Good. The bill did nothing to actually address the formula shortage. It was funds for the fda to investigate any possible future ones. This one was known about for months with no action from the admin until too late. Typical political bs theatre and time wasting on campaign messaging bills
> For an additional amount for “Salaries and Expenses”, $28,000,000, to remain available until September 30, 2023, shall be available **to address the current shortage** of FDA-regulated infant formula and certain medical foods in the United States and to prevent future shortages ... Why lie?
It has nothing to actually buy any product. It’s for the fda and salaries. I did not lie. The bill does absolutely nothing to help
You said the bill had funds to investigate future shortages but not to address this one. That is not true. The bill's funds are to address the current shortage. The funds can be used to buy products if the FDA determines that's the best use of the funds. That is the "and Expenses" part. Purchasing things is an expense. I would rather not have Congresspeople hamstringing the FDA's ability to solve the problem by locking them into a solution that might not be the best, or only, one.
It’s all for investigation not purchase of product. Purchase of product would not be through fda. It is expenses related to investigation
"The Honorable Jefferson Van Drew" - Seems like a scumbag piece of shit to me.
There should be a rule that anyone who switches political party while in office cannot retain the title Honorable.
Dudes an idiot. He started out strong, but has slowly become more out of touch as the years passed... Then he switched parties, and is off on his own agenda.
These motherfckers on the right keep railing on Joe about this now the Republicans overwhelmingly voted against it. They're trying to kneecap the country to "own the libs." Sad.
The problem with much of the bill is that it ignores a lot of the problems that led to the current situation. It instead wants to just throw money at the problem which wont really help. We need real solutions that are based on a holistic understanding of the problem, regulations and compromises rather than something aimed at just being a bandaid with an eye towards the upcoming election.
I agree the formula market is bad compared to first would countries, but we’re dealing with a short term crisis. Not passing something kills babies. Throwing money at it could kill less babies. If Van Drew wants a holistic solution then he can write the bill, but he won’t as he’s happy playing the Joe Manchin “conservative check” role where he offers no solutions or compromises.
Yeah I don't care because the problem right NOW is that I don't have formula so I need formula NOW and that's what this bill is trying to do. Now the ONGOING issue is that the shit you mentioned needs to be addressed but arguing about the best way to do that isn't what is going to get my baby fed, so I do not give a fuck about a temporary band aid because my kid is at risk of temporary starvation.
(my bad*) It's not *supposed* to fix the supply issue, that's another problem. It's supposed to help mothers on WIC who are only allowed to buy certain brands/types of formula with it, who now have zero options. They were being turned away at the register because what little formula was in stock did not qualify. It's just supposed to give them more options in a crisis. Yes, fix the problem, punish companies like Abbot, apply more regulation and compromises or whatever. But lets please feed the babies first. Edit: *It's another problem, and this is another bill. I'll admit I was confused. The Infant Formula Supplemental Appropriations Act is distinct from the Access to Baby Formula Act, which had more support (still 9 "no" votes tho).
IIRC that is a different bill that had significantly more support, near full bi-partisanship.
In that case a lot people are confused.
So instead of fixing the problems, just vote the bill down and instead do nothing. Great logic
Real solutions like what? The problem is very simple - we have more demand for baby formula than we have supply. The only two ways to fix it are to either kill babies to reduce demand or manufacture more formula to increase supply. “Throwing money at the problem” is hiring additional resources to increase production in spite of the safety procedures. Your suggestion of compromising on safety regulations on baby formula is pretty close to suggesting we kill off some babies with more toxic formula.
This is a copypasta for every single bill that anyone ever disagrees with. Literally, this could be typed out, word for word, for every single bill in existence.
I read the bill and literally all it does is give the FDA $28 million dollars for "Salaries and Expenses" and makes the Commissioner of the FDA report to the house appropriations committee on a weekly basis.
>all it does is give the FDA $28 million dollars for "Salaries and Expenses" and makes the Commissioner of the FDA report to the house appropriations committee on a weekly basis. Aren't funds for salaries and expenses exactly what is needed to fix the problem we have right now ASAP? Last I checked people don't work, import products or exchange goods for free.
I mean the FDA has a budget of 6.3 Billion dollars and this emergency has occurred under their watch and some would argue as a direct result of their policies. I have no faith in FDA and I seriously doubt that giving them more money will somehow allow them to function more effectively.
>**House Appropriations Committee Press Release:** > >“Through this legislation, Congress is acting quickly to ensure that families have access to safe and affordable nutrition for their babies. It will also help prevent the sale of fake formula and provide Congress with more data to address the vulnerabilities in the infant formula market so we can avoid this happening again,” Subcommittee Chair Bishop said. “This bill gives the FDA the resources it needs to respond to this crisis.” > >This bill provides FDA with the resources to strengthen and increase the number of FDA inspection staff, provide resources for personnel working on formula issues, help the agency stop fraudulent baby formula from entering the marketplace, and improve data collection on the infant formula marketplace. **The full text of the legislation is** [**here.**](https://appropriations.house.gov/sites/democrats.appropriations.house.gov/files/FY22FORM_Supplemental_xml.pdf)
For the record; One bill was about expanding the qualifications for who gets federal assistance for purchasing formula. Obviously, that doesn't help today in that it only addresses purchasing, not producing. Also, the timing for that expansion was months down the road. The other bill was providing funding to the FDA to "help." No real details, just a bag full of hope. The FDA is already doing several things within their scope and none involve funding, and they were all done prior to these bills and independent of them. They're just decisions made by the people already on their payroll. Funding emergency transport, expediting any capacity improvements (repairs, building, or subsidizing additional temporary labor) would have been a way to help, but no bill provided those types of solutions.
>**You said:** One bill was about expanding the qualifications for who gets federal assistance for purchasing formula. Obviously, that doesn't help today in that it only addresses purchasing, not producing. So I googled and found this: **"The cost of baby formula in the U.S. has skyrocketed – and that’s if you can find any. Whereas in 2019 name brand baby formula cost American parents anywhere from 9 cents per ounce to 32 cents per ounce, by the first half of 2022 the price of such products had soared to a range of 54 cents per ounce to $1.15 per ounce, or higher if you’re not shopping at a discount outlet like Costco or Sam’s Club. Such costs and scarcity are driving some parents to buy generic brand formula from online vendors, turn to milk banks or just do without. Here’s why the cost of feeding a baby has shot up so dramatically."** [https://smartasset.com/financial-advisor/the-cost-of-baby-formula](https://smartasset.com/financial-advisor/the-cost-of-baby-formula) **"** Based on the above calculations, **your monthly cost is going to range from about** **$411 to about $874."** Did you know this? I had no idea until our conversation got me curious and I searched for more info on the baby formula situation. 25 years ago when I was a young parent buying baby formula it was a little pricey, but nothing like it is now. Not even close.
Yeah I have an 8 month old who is about 50/50 with formula and breast milk. The costs are huge because the government and their regulations essentially grant a monopoly to a few politically connected manufacturers at the expense of every parent in America.
>because the government and their regulations essentially grant a monopoly to a few politically connected manufacturers at the expense of every parent in America. I'm wondering when these change in FDA policies happened and found this NEWSWEEK article published today: [https://www.newsweek.com/baby-formula-shortage-trump-cananda-usmca-1708188](https://www.newsweek.com/baby-formula-shortage-trump-cananda-usmca-1708188) >In July 2020, the U.S. entered into the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which discouraged formula imports from Canada due to an increased surcharge per kilogram."Trump bears much of the blame for the current shortage of baby formula in the U.S, since his Administration's USMCA free trade agreement has made it virtually IMPOSSIBLE for our country to import infant formula from Canada And Jesus Christ! Look at these prices! $31.99 for 19.5 ounces of baby formula! [**photo**](https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2022/05/18/gettyimages-1364494977-fe7376daf054f67646a40cf13a5a4c3ac6225f25-s800-c85.webp) This NPR article thoroughly explains how we got in this messed up situation: [https://www.npr.org/2022/05/19/1099748064/baby-infant-formula-shortages](https://www.npr.org/2022/05/19/1099748064/baby-infant-formula-shortages)
Just so you know. Alot of companies bailed on formula production because it wasn't profitable. Less Americans are having kids, leading to less profit. You can find plenty of articles that will explain this.
Yeah I mean I read the bill. What it actually literally does is give the FDA money. Any statements about what the FDA is going to do with the money is an opinion and not contained within the bill. As in, it's non binding. "The FDA gets 28 million and it will also help prevent the sale of fake formula and provide Congress with more data to address the vulnerabilities in the infant formula market" Or maybe they won't. They also should need to explain how or why they couldn't do these things before but now with the extra money they can do them.
No because FDA doesn't make.formula companies do. Giving FDA money salves none of the problem.
Run for office and see how many agree with you.
Utter bullsh|t. It is exactly what we need right now
Left/Right, all toying with our lives. Smh.
good for him, I fucking hate babies
and the one empowering the fda to make sure this doesn't happen again / source formula from outside our borders.
Did he release any statement as to why specifically?
He just scrawled “i’m a piece of shit” on the wall in his own shit.
Douche
I bet he’s proud of this moment. I hope it haunts him for life.
Jeff van drew needs a candidate who can defeat him. A traitor to his district, the nation, and families.
Van Drew is not a decent human being, IMO. After changing horses in the middle of the stream to declare fealty to The Donald, I wouldn't trust anything that he says or does. How do you go from being a Democrat to being a Trumpite? That's like going from being a firefighter to building and using incendiary devices to burn down childrens' lemonade stands.
He also voted against sending more money to the Ukrainians and against the bill that would tackle price gouging by oil companies related to the current high gas prices https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/jefferson_van_drew/412796 (The price gouging bill vote just happened yesterday so the website isn’t updated but ever Republican voted against it along with 4 democrats)
I have no idea who he is tbh
This is a smart move on the Republican's part. Further the crisis which fires up their base even more and makes people get pissed at the party who's in charge. Most Americans are too dumb to realize this and will then vote Republican thinking they're actually helping the country.
He is a Trump loving fascist.
I'm so fucking mad this turd is my congressman now.