Jill Biden, Murthy welcome 2nd mass delivery of baby formula

CHANTILLY, Va. (AP) — Jill Biden and Surgeon General Vivek Murthy welcomed the delivery Wednesday of a second shipment of tens of thousands of pounds of baby formula that the Biden administration is importing from Europe to ease critical supply shortages in the U.S.

The first lady and the nation's doctor each sought to empathize with anxious parents nationwide who have been scrambling to find enough formula for their children.

Both said President Joe Biden and his team understand what parents are going through and were working hard to solve the latest domestic crisis to challenge the administration. Biden has come under growing political pressure for not acting more quickly to try to head off the supply crisis.

“As a mom and a Nana, it’s impossible to hear the stories of children suffering and not imagine your own children in the same position,” the first lady said, using her grandchildren's nickname for her. "Food is the first and most important way we nurture our children.”

Murthy, a father of two young children, said he knows “how important it is to parents that they have confidence in their ability to safely and securely feed their child. And I know how frustrating and scary it can be when that security feels out of reach.”

“That is why we will not rest until every parent has the formula they need for their child,” he pledged.

Biden and Murthy spoke on the tarmac at Dulles International Airport in Virginia in front of a FedEx Express plane that had just delivered 120,000 pounds (54,431. kilograms) , or 60 tons, of infant formula from Ramstein Air Base in Germany under the administration's Operation Fly Formula program.

With Wednesday's delivery and a shipment of 78000 pounds (35,380 kilograms) of specialty infant formula that was flown by military aircraft to...