Rep. Kat Cammack (R-FL) called Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg a liar for claiming the Biden administration had “acted from day one after the recall” of baby formula.
On Sunday, Buttigieg stated on CBS’ “Face The Nation,” “The administration acted from day one after the recall, taking steps like creating more flexibility for the WIC program to help rebalance the availability of formula in the States.”
Appearing on Fox Business’ “Mornings With Maria,” Cammack fired, “To the Secretary of Transportation’s remarks that they have been on top of this from day one: That is a lie.”
Cammack pointed out that she had been criticized after she posted text messages and photos she said were sent from Border Patrol agents showing a stockpile of baby formula intended for illegal immigrants.
“Yesterday I was on the border myself, and the facts on the border are exactly how we have been stating them,” she asserted. “I decided to go down myself and film it. Lo and behold, not only was there stocked warehouses, but there were multiple stocked warehouses that have been not only filled with baby formula and diapers and wipes and clothing, but they have been doing this for months and there’s more en route.”
Federal law details that children in custody be provided with food, including baby formula.
Referring to Buttigieg’s claim that the administration had “acted from day one,” she snapped, “They canceled 43% of this manufacturer’s production with no plan to backfill that market share that they make up. So, how have they been on top of this?”
“Moms for months have been saying it was getting harder and harder to find formula,” she pointed out. “This is just another example of the broken administration that doesn’t know how to govern.”
Cammack showed pictures and videos from her trip to the facility at the border. “One image showed mounds of infant formula featuring handwritten dates, likely to denote expiration, of June 2023,” The Daily Mail reported.
Buttigieg had blamed Abbott Nutrition for the formula shortage, complaining, “Fundamentally, we are here because a company was not able to guarantee that its plant was safe, and that plant has shut down.”
“Let’s be very clear,” he continued. “This is a capitalist country. The government does not make baby formula, nor should it. Companies make formula, and one of those companies — a company which, by the way, seems to have 40 percent market share — messed up and is unable to confirm that a plant, a major plant, is safe and free of contamination.”