-House Republicans voted in large numbers
against a bill that would provide emergency funding
to address the nationwide shortage of baby formula,
while a smaller number of Republicans
voted against a second bill, that would make it easier
for poor families to buy formula.
Instead, Republicans would much rather exploit the crisis
to rail against immigration.
For more on this, it's time for "A Closer Look."
♪♪ [ Cheering and applause ]
In case you have any doubt at all that reality is,
in fact, a simulation and we're all just test subjects
in some giant computer game, being jerked around
for the entertainment of our celestial overlords,
[ Laughter ] here's an extremely and shockingly real clip
of former President George W. Bush
giving a speech yesterday
where he discussed Russia's invasion of Ukraine
and accidentally confessed to being a war criminal.
[ Laughter ] -Russian elections are rigged.
Political opponents are imprisoned
or otherwise eliminated
from participating in the electoral process.
The result is an absence of checks and balances in Russia
and the decision of one man to launch a wholly unjustified
and brutal invasion of Iraq.
I mean, of Ukraine. [ Chuckle ]
[ Laughter ] Iraq, too.
Anyway. [ Laughter ]
Seventy-five.
[ Laughter and applause ]
You know, when I started this show,
I poured exactly one shot of whiskey
and left it in the drawer of my desk for an emergency
and, throughout the entirety of the Trump presidency,
I resisted using it, but you know what? [Bleep] it.
[ Laughter, cheering, and applause ]
I really am certain that clip was designed in a lab
to melt the brains of anyone who was alive in 2003.
Back then, if you had called the invasion of Iraq
brutal and unjustified,
the Bush administration and Fox News
would've spent an entire week calling you a traitor
and, anytime you went to the airport,
the TSA would've given you the full cavity search.
[ Laughter ] [ Southern accent ] Well, well, well, Mr. Meyers,
if it isn't 3.5 ounces of toothpaste.
Squat and cough, joke boy.
[ Laughter and applause ]
Remember, this was a time in our history
that was so hysterical and intolerant of dissent
that people started calling French fries, freedom fries,
because France opposed the war,
[ Laughter ] which was both petty and pointless,
especially because we only did it for French fries.
We didn't change French kissing or French doors
or Mr. French and we didn't all pretend that Larry Bird was
from Freedom Lick, Indiana. [ Laughter ]
You know, what people don't remember is that, to retaliate,
French people started calling American cheese disgusting
100 years ago.
[ Laughter and applause ]
There is a direct line from Bush to the modern GOP.
The Trump Republican Party is the natural evolution
of the Bush Republican Party,
which was lawless and authoritarian
and used culture war hysteria to stir up resentments
and scare voters, the same way
the modern Republican Party does now.
They've just switched to different topics.
Back then, Bush wanted to amend the Constitution
to ban gay marriage.
Now, Republicans want to take baby formula
away from migrant children in government custody.
-Our border children,
the illegal immigrant children,
are getting formula.
-American families, there's a shortage,
but if you're a migrant, don't worry
because Uncle Sam has a stash of that.
-These are not people that respected our borders,
our laws, and our sovereignty.
Why wouldn't all the pallets go to American families, first?
-Apparently, there's no shortage of baby formula
for illegal aliens.
Why are we feeding illegal babies ahead of American babies?
-Illegal babies?
[ Laughter ] Are you out of your [bleep] mind?
[ Laughter ] You know what?
I think I'm finally going to drink that whiskey shot.
Oh, right!
[ Laughter and applause ]
I already had it today!
I made it almost 1,300 shows and then I need it twice
in one "Look." Look,
[ Laughter ] as a rule, if you ever find yourself uttering the words,
"Why are we feeding illegal babies?",
or even just the words "illegal babies,"
that's when you need to go in for a CAT scan,
to see if the doctors can find your soul.
[ Laughter ] "No, we're -- we're looking and it's just
a giant, blank void where the soul should be."
[ Laughter ] Also, again, think about how insane and immoral
the phrase "illegal babies" is.
Babies can't be illegal.
They can't commit crimes.
You've never seen a gang of babies on motorcycles
[ Laughter ] holding up liquor stores.
And, even if you did, it'd be cute as [bleep].
[ Laughter ] I mean, my God, these are babies!
By the way, in the government's custody.
It would be, to put it mildly, immoral, abomination,
and crime against humanity not to feed them.
And, on top of being ghoulish and horrific,
it wouldn't even solve anything.
-First of all, how many babies are there at the border?
A few hundred, maybe a thousand?
Government doesn't release the exact number.
It's somewhere in that ballpark.
In the United States, there are about 3.7 million babies, okay?
So, clearly, the border babies hogging all that formula
is not the problem here.
[ Laughter ] -This assumes, of course,
that the doofuses over at Fox News
are capable of doing math.
Have you ever really looked in Brian Kilmeade's eyes?
There is nothing there.
[ Laughter ] Sometimes I think he might just be a nanny cam they set up
to see if Steve Doocy is stealing
other people's lunch from the staff fridge.
[ Laughter ]
Now, you no doubt heard
about the nationwide baby formula shortage,
which is a very real and horrifying crisis
affecting millions of families, that needs immediate action.
There are several contributing factors,
including a recall in February
by one of the nation's largest manufacturers,
which shuttered a plant in Michigan;
and supply chain disruptions stemming
from the COVID pandemic.
It's also been difficult to supplement supply
with formula imported from Canada,
thanks, in part, to onerous trade restrictions imposed
by the Trump administration.
-Trade experts say the renegotiated NAFTA deal
under the Trump administration made it nearly impossible
for Canada to export formula to the U.S.
-During the Trump administration,
when they renegotiated NAFTA and they made the USMCA,
guess what they did?
Made it harder for Canada,
made it more expensive for Canada
to import baby formula here.
-I mean, of course, Trump is, somehow, involved in this.
Finding his fingerprints on a screw-up, these days,
is like finding Waldo in a book called...
[ Laughter ]
-Hey, that reminds me, Seth.
-Reminds you of what, Wally?
-I have a new kid's book coming out called...
It's pictures of me in the studio
and kids try to find me.
[ Laughter ]
-Yeah, but aren't you always in the same place,
holding cards behind the camera?
[ Laughter ]
-Tha--
Thanks for ruining my book, Seth. -Alright.
[ Laughter ]
[ Applause ] Yeah, I --
-Whoo! -Apologies, everyone.
The new restrictions on formula imports from Canada
were implemented as part of a renegotiated trade deal
called the USMCA.
Trump even branded it and came up with a very dumb way
of getting people to remember the name.
-USMCA, right?
Like ♪ YMCA ♪
[ Laughter ]
If you have a problem remembering it,
just think of the song "Y.M.C.A."
We love that song.
USMCA.
-[ As Trump ] Just think of the YMCA
and, of course, the Village People.
Think of the cop, the cowboy, and, of course,
the leather daddy.
[ Laughter ] Leather comes from cows,
cows produce milk,
and dairy imports are regulated by the
♪ USMCA ♪
[ Laughter and applause ]
It rolls off the tongue.
It's very natural when you do it.
[ Laughter ]
So there are lots of reasons for the formula shortage
and those problems have been magnified by the fact
that the formula market is largely controlled
by a small handful of corporate monopolies.
Yeah, because you can't have
a small group of companies all depending
on the same sources for the same ingredients,
otherwise, crises like these will be inevitable.
It's like if the only place you could go
to get yourself clean, have a good meal,
and...do whatever you feel was the
-♪ YMCA ♪
[ Laughter and applause ]
Does make it easier to remember.
[ Laughter ] So...
Now, obviously, obviously, it is on the Biden administration
and Congress to fix the crisis immediately.
Biden announced that he's invoking
the Defense Production Act to produce more formula,
the FDA reached a deal to open the shuttered plant,
and the House passed an emergency funding bill
to address the crisis.
And yet, you'll never guess who voted
against the emergency funding bill.
Wait, sorry, of course you can guess.
Almost every Republican.
-We'll start with a bill that would send $28 million
to the Food and Drug Administration
to help boost formula supply and prevent future shortages.
Only 12 Republicans voted for that measure.
House Democrats say the emergency funding would be used
to increase the number of FDA inspection staff,
help the agency stop fraudulent baby formula
from entering the U.S. marketplace,
and improve data collection on the formula market.
-Only 12 Republicans voted for a bill
to address the nationwide formula shortage.
You know, I'm starting to suspect
that maybe their criticisms aren't exactly genuine.
I mean, when I saw that 192 Republicans voted
against an emergency funding bill for the FDA,
my first question was...
-♪ Y ♪
-Seriously.
[ Laughter ]
How can you be against a bill like that?
It's like being the one guy in the office who's
against free pizza for lunch.
"I'm sorry. What am I supposed to do with the catfish
I just warmed up in the microwave?"
[ Laughter ]
So, the House passed two bills.
One was an emergency funding bill to address the shortage,
and almost every Republican voted against it.
Another bill would make it easier
for low-income families to buy formula,
and that bill got much more bipartisan support.
-The House also passed another bill,
called the Access to Baby Formula Act.
That final vote came down 414-9
and the bill would allow more formula to be purchased
with money from a federal program
that aids low-income women, infants, and children.
-Supporting a bill like that would seem like a no-brainer
and, yet, somehow, there were still nine Republicans
who voted against it -- Andy Biggs, of Arizona...
Hearing that list of names is like hearing the roll call
at a Legion of Doom meeting. [ Laughter ]
I mean, who else voted against this bill,
Skeletor? I'm just kidding. [ Laughter ]
I'm just kidding. Skeletor's not in Congress.
He's the president's lawyer.
[ Laughter, ohs, and applause ] You guys.
Also, I got to say, at least, with Skeletor,
you know what you're getting. Dude's a giant,
maniacal skeleton in a hoodie.
He's upfront about being evil.
[ Laughter ] He-Man's under no illusions
about who he's dealing with.
He-Man never started an episode saying,
"Hey, maybe we should hear Skeletor out."
[ Laughter ]
The nationwide formula shortage
is an urgent crisis that requires immediate action
and, yet, for all their bluster,
Republicans have, once again, made it clear
they have no interest in actually governing
or helping solve the problem.
If you're feeling down, they just want you
to pick yourself off the ground
because you're in a new town
[ Laughter ] and head to the...
-USMCA.
[ Laughter and applause ]
-This has been "A Closer Look."
♪♪
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