WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. House Democrats on Tuesday unveiled a bill to provide $28 million to the Food and Drug Administration to help respond to a nationwide shortage of infant formula.
House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Friday week the chamber would consider the emergency funding bill this week. The legislation was posted on the House Appropriations Committee’s website.
The supplementary funds for “salaries and expenses” would be available until the end of September 2023 “to address the current shortage of FDA-regulated infant formula and certain medical foods in the United States and to prevent future shortages,” according to the legislation.
The FDA said on Monday the United States would allow baby formula imports from foreign makers that do not usually sell their products here, in a bid to ease the shortage that has left parents scrambling to feed their babies.
The temporary move could help put more formula in U.S. stores in a few weeks, an FDA official said told a news conference on Monday. Overseas makers will need to satisfy safety and nutritional standards set by the FDA.
(Reporting by Chris Gallagher; Editing by Tim Ahmann and Chizu Nomiyama)
