WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) joined Sens. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and 19 other senators in urging Robert Califf, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner, to explain the FDA’s failure to mitigate the nationwide baby formula shortage.

“For decades, the FDA has been the gold standard for approving and regulating medical products and food. Yet this year, the actions of the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) has raised questions regarding its ability to fulfill its core oversight responsibilities. The safety of, and access to, infant formula should be among CFSAN’s highest priorities, as this food is vital for the growth and development of infants,” the senators wrote.

“We are also concerned as to why FDA leadership failed to be proactive in mitigating the shortage crisis parents are now facing. The COVID-19 pandemic revealed many vulnerabilities across all sectors of industry, and our food supply chain was woefully unprepared to handle challenges here and from foreign partners. Infant formula supplies at local grocery stores were relatively stable for the first half of 2021. The out-of-stock percentage started to climb steadily in the later half and continued to worsen throughout this year,” they continued.

The senators asked Califf several questions, including whether the FDA and White House have a strategic plan in place to mitigate formula shortages and if the FDA made any recommendations to the White House about what actions the FDA can take to handle the shortage.

“The shortage, felt by all families in need, is disproportionately impacting vulnerable populations. . . . The FDA must do everything within its statutory authority to ensure it facilitates access to safe, quality foods,” concluded the senators.

Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), John Barrasso, (R-Wyo.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), John Boozman (R-Ark.), Bill Cassidy, (R-La.), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Tim Scott (R-S.C.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), John Thune (R-S.D.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) also signed the letter.

The letter is available here.

WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) joined Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and other Republican senators in writing to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo urging the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to stop delaying permits for offshore oil and gas companies that are performing exploration work ahead of drilling wells.

“While the Biden Administration and Members of Congress fault the domestic oil and gas industry of sitting idle on over 9,000 drilling permits and millions of acres in ‘inactive leases,’ NMFS’s permitting delays represent one example of the Administration’s de facto ban on new drilling—impeding domestic oil and gas investment, exploration, and production,” the senators wrote.

“Specifically, we are aware that NMFS has a backlog of applications for ‘Letters of Authorization’ (LOA), which federal oil and gas leasees need in order to perform the specific geological surveying necessary to develop their leases located on the federal U.S. Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). We understand some pending LOA applications have been with the agency for well over 100 days, whereas NMFS has historically approved LOA applications within 2 to 4 weeks,” they continued.

The letter notes that the permitting delay is principally due to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) inadvertently double-counting projected exposure estimates for activities on the OCS, it’s reliance on those miscalculations when developing the final rule in question. 

The letter advises the NMFS to:

• allow officials to approve outstanding and future LOA applications consistent with the agency’s permitting activities prior to the 2021 Final Rule,
• use NMFS’ discretion to immediately approve those LOA applications that are most likely to bring production online first,
• issue a new proposed rule immediately and final rule within a more reasonable timeframe and
• shift additional resources to process applications and make available to permittees any other alternative permitting processes within NMFS’s authority.

“It is unacceptable that agency miscalculations have restricted access to safe, secure, and reliable domestic oil and gas production through substantial, unnecessary, and arbitrary permitting delays,” the senators concluded.

Text of the letter is available here.

WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) today joined more than 15 other Republican senators in introducing a resolution highlighting rising crime rates in the U.S. and calling on President Biden to combat crime and secure the southern border.

“The Biden administration seems to think that when a criminal commits a crime, it’s not really the criminal’s fault. Under President Biden’s watch, crime rates have gone up, drugs are pouring across the border and criminals are murdering cops. The White House must do something to keep American communities safe,” said Kennedy.

The resolution points out that the murder rate in America rose by 30 percent from 2019-2020, the largest single-year increase in more than a century. In addition, there was a 59 percent increase in the number of police officers murdered last year. At least 16 American cities set record for the number of murders in 2021.

More than 2.5 million illegal immigrants have been caught trying to cross the U.S. southern border since January 2021, and overdose deaths have reached an all-time high as the flow of illegal drugs across the southern border is putting communities at risk across America.

Text of the resolution is available here.

WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) today introduced the Mother and Baby Formula Safety Act to give parents Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidance for producing safe formula options for their children at home. 

“While the FDA finishes its investigation, it has to help parents find solutions to formula supply chain bottlenecks in real time. The agency must equip moms and dads to find or make safe alternatives if an emergency leaves formula shelves bare, and my bill would make sure the FDA does that for parents,” said Kennedy.

Kennedy introduced the bill as parents of young children are facing a nationwide shortage of commercial formula. The Mother and Baby Formula Safety Act would require the FDA to respond to formula shortages by publishing guidelines for safely making formula at home, resources for parents to locate alternatives to commercial formula and other safety guidance.

Text of the bill is available here.