East Central Reporter

Congresswoman Mary Miller criticized President Joe Biden’s handling of the baby formula crisis deepening in the country. 

Miller made the comments during an appearance on AM560’s Chicago’s Morning Answer. 

“He's a weak and, incompetent man, and I give zero credence to what comes out of his mouth," Miller said of Biden. "I'm looking at what they're doing, and in every way, they're dismantling our country.” 

She spoke about how her daughter was sourcing breast milk from a friend for an adopted child due to a lack of availability of baby formula. 

“It is a miracle that in everything and this baby formula situation I've kind of known about for a while, I've been trying to sound the alarm. One of our daughters adopted in January an infant, a special needs baby. And she's been telling us for probably two months that she's been having trouble getting formula. And in fact, she has a sister and a friend from church that are providing breast milk for her to try to supplement the baby formula,” Miller said. 

Miller is convinced that "there's a spirit of deception over this country."

“I don't really know what they're doing. I don't believe a thing that they say," she said. "They lie without shame out there. And I'm sorry to tell people that, but it's the truth. I do think I believe but a judge came out and said that we have four manufacturers producing 90% of the baby formula. And, that that's not a healthy situation. I think some of these supply chain crises are highlighting that we need to change the way we do life. I mean, I do know also just because we raise beef and we know that 80 to 90% of the protein processing in our country is done by four manufacturers or processors also. And so we need to look at how we are bringing products to the American consumers. It's not a free market if it's controlled by three or four manufacturers or processors.”

According to Bloomberg, the Illinois out-of-stock rate is over 37% for the item. Tennessee has the highest out-of-stock rate at 54.7%.

The shortage comes months after Abbott, one of a handful of companies producing formula, shut down a plant where the formula was being produced after two infants died from drinking tainted formula produced at the its Sturgis, Michigan plant, NPR reported.

Miller’s appearance came right before Abbott announced it had reached a deal with the FDA to reopen the plant. 

"Our No. 1 priority is getting infants and families the high-quality formulas they need, and this is a major step toward re-opening our Sturgis facility so we can ease the nationwide formula shortage," Robert B. Ford, chairman and CEO, Abbott, said in a press release. "We look forward to working with the FDA to quickly and safely re-open the facility. We know millions of parents and caregivers depend on us and we're deeply sorry that our voluntary recall worsened the nationwide formula shortage. We will work hard to re-earn the trust that moms, dads and caregivers have placed in our formulas for more than 50 years.”

Miller is running against fellow Republican incumbent Rodney Davis in the new 15th Congressional District which includes parts or all of Fayette, Christian, Shelby, Coles, Edgar and Vermillion counties. The primary is scheduled on June 28.