Brief News

Emergency Diesel Reserve – The White House solution

The White House is exploring the possibility of tapping into an emergency diesel reserve to ease the spike in gas prices, a senior White House official said.

The emergency declaration under consideration would enable President Biden to release diesel from a rarely used stockpile, but the reserve is relatively small and will only serve as a temporary solution to buy time.

The national average price for diesel stood at $5.56 a gallon, just shy of the record of $5.58 set last week, according to AAA. Diesel is a vital fuel for the US economy, powering not only farm and construction equipment but the trucks, trains and boats that move goods across the country. Skyrocketing diesel prices often get passed down to consumers.

Biden trip to Asia – “Thats the commitment we made”

On his first trip to Asia since taking office, President Joe Biden said that the United States would respond militarily if China tries to take Taiwan by force. “That’s the commitment we made,” he told reporters in Tokyo. The President’s statement caught several of his top administration officials off guard. However, this is not the first time Biden has gone further than longstanding US public policy toward the self-governing island.

The US provides Taiwan defensive weapons, but has remained intentionally ambiguous on whether it would intervene militarily in the event of a Chinese attack. Following Biden’s remarks, the White House issued a statement that said the US’ official position remained unchanged.

Tons of baby formula arriving from Germany

A shipment of 35 tons of baby formula arrived in Indiana on a US military aircraft from Germany to address the nationwide shortage, but none of it will land on store shelves in the US, a Biden administration official said. The recent batch of formula is a specialized prescription and will be fed to babies intolerant of protein in cow milk, the official said. The shipment will provide enough formula for 9,000 babies and 18,000 toddlers for one week, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said.

As for more upcoming shipments, the White House announced that additional flights to import formula from abroad will “take place in the coming days.” Biden announced Operation Fly Formula last week. His administration said the total amount of formula in the first round equals up to 1.5 million doses of eight-ounce bottles.