The Taxpayers Protection Alliance’s (TPA) bill of the month for May 2022 is S. 4115, the Fairness for Crime Victims Act of 2022, introduced by Sen. Pa

The Taxpayers Protection Alliance’s (TPA) bill of the month for May 2022 is S. 4115, the Fairness for Crime Victims Act of 2022, introduced by Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.). This legislation would prevent Congress from being able to pay for discretionary spending projects by diverting money from the Crime Victims Fund (CVF). In 1984, Congress established the CVF with the simple goal of helping crime victims in the United States. The CVF is funded solely via money collected from perpetrators during investigations or settlements. These fines and penalties collected by the federal government involve no taxes levied against the broader tax base. The Fairness for Crime Victims Act of 2022 would mandate the CVF disburse the average amount of deposits from the prior three years to victims. Meaning, if the fund receives $12 billion in deposits over the last three years, $4 billion must be disbursed to victims that year. It is a needed accountability metric to ensure the fund is serving its intended
purpose. Serving the most vulnerable in society is a noble goal. Through the CVF, Congress helped to do so at zero cost to the American taxpayer. However, it slowly became a slush fund for congressional pet projects and pork barrel spending. S. 4115 would restore integrity to the fund and secure long-term funding for victims across the United States.


Postal Service – More Losses and Electric Vehicles

Not exactly, “Breaking News,” but the United States Postal Service (USPS) reported a loss last week. This loss was a $639 million net loss for the second quarter of fiscal year (FY) 2022. This figure increased significantly from the same quarter last year when the USPS reported a $82 million net loss. The USPS continues to lose money despite the release of a business plan assuring taxpayers and consumers that the agency would get back into the black. While the USPS has reported prices for bulk, discounted package delivery services (Parcel Select) have increased by 5.5 percent for 2022, the USPS is likely still losing money on these deliveries due to the surging price of gasoline and the flawed cost allocation method used by the agency. Inflation-adjusted package delivery prices have actually decreased, but that hasn’t stopped package volumes from declining. Package volume is down by 94 million compared to the same quarter last year. Clearly, the agency’s quest to keep package volumes high
by subsidizing deliveries isn’t working. Unfortunately, large net losses have been the norm in recent years for America’s mail carrier. The USPS has lost more than $90 billion over the past fifteen years and there’s little indication things will change anytime soon. The agency predicts that the impact of ‘reform’ legislation will not be felt until next quarter, but even then, it’s unlikely there will be any real change. Congress forgiving the USPS’ debt will just kick the can down the road and give the agency a blank check to continue to spend recklessly and neglect much-needed pricing reforms. Congress can and must work with postal leadership to enact real reforms that will be reflected in postal balance sheets.

This next USPS issue is good insight as to why the agency is a mess. In February of 2021, the agency announced a ten-year agreement with manufacturer Oshkosh Defense to replace its aging fleet and purchase of up to 165,000 new mail trucks. Despite the USPS and Oshkosh’s plan to make 10 percent of these vehicles electric, lawmakers have deemed this figure inadequate and pushed for the revision or cancellation of the procurement contract. House Democrats led by House Oversight and Reform Committee chairwoman Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) are trying to invalidate the USPS’ environmental impact study conducted on the contract and pressure the agency to shift course. It’s one thing for lawmakers to closely monitor agency actions to ensure that bureaucrats aren’t bleeding taxpayers dry, but quite another matter to micromanage agency contracts in a way that would balloon costs and steer the USPS away from economical purchases. America’s mail carrier faces a rapidly aging fleet, and regular truck
fires, mechanical malfunction, and employee complaints speak to the need for immediate replacement. Rep. Maloney is trying to stall this critical process simply because there aren’t enough costly electric trucks being produced for her liking. If House Democrats truly have qualms with the USPS’ environmental impact studies, lawmakers should team up with their colleagues on the other side of the aisle to enact comprehensive and methodological reforms on how agencies quantify the cost of various pollutants. But, invalidating one analysis because it contains unpopular or counterintuitive conclusions jeopardizes expertise at agencies and politicizes the entire process. Both agency officials and the USPS’ inspector general carefully calculated the costs and benefits of electric adaption and found a conventional fleet to be more cost-effective under a variety of assumptions. There’s simply no reason to ignore or disregard these results.


Baby Formula Shortages

Added on the already frustrating supply chain issues, the U.S. is currently experiencing a significant baby formula shortage. Data from the retail analysis firm Datasembly shows that the amount of baby formula available on supermarket and convenience store shelves is down approximately 40 percent from typical inventory levels. This is serious and frustrating because a large majority of households with young children will feed their infants formula at least once by the time they are six months old. Continued shortages will have dire ramifications for child nutrition. Mothers receiving assistance from the federal Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children will be particularly hard-hit because the program limits options to just a handful of supply-constrained formula brands. Given these issues, and the FDA’s extensive role in regulating the supply chain of baby formula, TPA sent a letter with questions and concerns to the FDA.
1. Numerous media outlets have reported that Abbott Nutrition’s February recall of baby formula was a key contributor to current shortage issues. The recalls were a direct result of FDA findings linking the formula to multiple infant illnesses and deaths. Abbott’s formula was found to contain the bacteria Cronobacter sakazakii, which can cause serious health issues if ingested. According to a 2015 research article published in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology, an economical phage purification and concentration method could successfully control Cronobacter sakazakii in infant formula and mitigate contamination and harm. Yet, regulatory application and approval of phage biocontrol products appear to be relatively limited. According to one estimate published in 2021 in Current Issues in Molecular Biology, eleven such biocontrol products have been approved under the Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) framework. Seemingly, none have been approved for the specific treatment
of c. sakazakii in baby formula. TPA would like to know the rationale for this lack of regulatory approval. In the FDA’s estimation, is this due to regulatory hurdles, corporate reluctance to embrace phage biocontrol products, or both?


2. In 2021, formula manufacturer Able Groupe announced the recall of 76,000 units of baby formula produced in Europe and distributed to U.S. consumers. The recall came because of the FDA’s findings that, “the required pre-market notifications for these new infant formulas have not been submitted to the FDA” and the formulas “do not bear mandatory labeling statements in English.” While lack of labeling and pre-market communication with regulators could result in harms to U.S. consumers, the products targeted for FDA scrutiny are already under the purview of European regulators. Furthermore, purchases of these products would presumably not fall under agency scrutiny if parents either bought these products themselves abroad or had friends or relatives procure them abroad. Given the extraordinary challenges facing parents due to the formula shortage, it seems that the FDA could feasibly relax import restrictions on popular European baby formulas such as Holle, HiPP, and Lebenswert. Has the
FDA examined European data regarding the safety of these brands before targeting foreign formulas for enforcement?

We received a preliminary response and will let you know what else we hear from the FDA.

BLOGS:

Monday: TPA’s Bill of the Month: Fairness for Crime Victims Act of 2022 ([link removed])

Tuesday: Calls to Undermine Patent Protections Must Be Rejected, Innovation Depends On It ([link removed])

Wednesday: TPA Letter: FDA Must Address Regulations on Baby Formula During Shortage ([link removed])

Thursday: TPA Slams Windfall Tax Proposals on Energy ([link removed])

Friday: Putting the Brakes on Amtrak’s Gulf Coast Line ([link removed])


MEDIA:

May 9, 2022: WBFF Fox45 ([link removed]) (Baltimore, Md.) interviewed me about Baltimore’s guaranteed income program.

May 9, 2022: The Center Square ([link removed]) ran TPA’s op-ed, “Tobacco Control Act didn’t significantly reduce teen smoking.”

May 10, 2022: The Progress (Clearfield, Pa.) ran TPA’s op-ed, “Tobacco Control Act didn’t significantly reduce teen smoking ([link removed]) .”

May 10, 2022: The Courier Express (DuBois, Pa.) ran TPA’s op-ed, “Tobacco Control Act didn’t significantly reduce teen smoking ([link removed]) .”

May 10, 2022: The Nashua Telegraph (Nashua, Nh.) ran TPA’s op-ed, “Campaign for tobacco-free kids — can history repeat itself?” ([link removed])

May 10, 2022: The Livingston Parish News (Denham Springs, La.) ran TPA’s op-ed, “Health misinformation can be deadly ([link removed]) .”

May 11, 2022: NTD Television interviewed me about the House of Representatives trying to unionize their workforce.

May 11, 2022: The American Institute for Economic Research published TPA’s op-ed, “Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids: The Case for Compromise ([link removed]) .”

May 12, 2022: WBFF Fox45 ([link removed]) (Baltimore, Md.) interviewed me about the baby formula shortage.

May 12, 2022: The Santa Barbara News-Press (Santa Barbara, Calif.) mentioned TPA in their story, “Formula shortage not yet a crisis in Santa Barbara, experts say. ([link removed]) ”

May 12, 2022: WBFF Fox45 (Baltimore, Md.) interviewed me about Nick Mosby’s ethics problems ([link removed]) .

May 12, 2022: Fox23 Maine quoted me in their story, “As Portland Charter Commission releases preliminary report, some costs still not clear ([link removed]) .”

May 13, 2022: I appeared on WBOB 600 AM (Jacksonville, Fla.) to talk about inflation and baby formula.

May 13, 2022: I was quoted in a story in Inside Sources ([link removed]) titled, “Fiscal Watchdogs Warn Amtrak Gulf Coast Service Is a Taxpayer Train Wreck.”

May 13, 2022: Real Clear Markets ran TPA’s op-ed, “Don't Blame Patents For the Pricey Nature of U.S. Drugs.” ([link removed])

May 13, 2022: Townhall.com ran TPA’s op-ed, “America’s Assault on Nicotine Product Innovation Will Cost Millions of Lives.” ([link removed])
Have a great weekend!
Best,

David Williams
President
Taxpayers Protection Alliance
1101 14th Street, NW
Suite 1120
Washington, D.C. xxxxxx
www.protectingtaxpayers.org ([link removed])

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