Varney on baby formula shortage: Biden’s ‘gross incompetence’ has the world laughing at us

Out-of-stock percentage for baby formula at 45% nationwide

In his latest "My Take" on Wednesday, FOX Business' Stuart Varney explained how the baby formula shortage crisis is a story of "gross government incompetence" by the Biden administration.

STUART VARNEY: The baby formula shortage is a story of gross government incompetence. It goes all the way up to the top.

On October 21, 2021, a whistleblower drew attention to problems at a baby formula plant.

It was two months before the Food and Drug Administration interviewed the whistleblower. It took them another month to inspect the plant, and another two weeks to shut it down and recall the product.

BABY FORMULA SHORTAGE: OUT-OF-STOCK RATE HITS 45% NATIONWIDE IN MAY

That’s more than three months between the alarm bell and action.

You would have thought that, at that point, with the alarm bells ringing and shortages developing, the government would have a plan to fill the emptying shelves. They didn't. High tariffs and regulations stopped imports from Europe.

Stuart Varney gives his latest take on the baby formula shortage

Stuart Varney torched the Biden administration's delayed response to the baby formula shortage as "gross incompetence," in his latest "My Take" on Wednesday, May 25, 2022. (Fox News)

You would have thought that HHS Secretary, Xavier Becerra, who is in charge of the FDA, would have jumped on this, changing the regulations and urging lower tariffs. For months, he did nothing. You never see this guy, and you have to wonder why a man with zero experience in healthcare runs the country's biggest health bureaucracy.

And when did President Biden know about the growing shortage? Surely his aides told him. Is he ill-informed? Or dragging his feet again?

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Finally, last week, a shipment of formula from Europe arrived. And the White House, spinning like crazy, took a victory lap.

The spin won't work. The shelves are still emptying. Gross incompetence. The world is laughing at us.

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