of bills, one of which provides an extra $28 million in funding for the fda that s mainly for staffing issues, oversight into preventing future formula shortages. elizabeth cohen joins us with much more on what is now more or less military operation to get more baby formula to the united states. it really is, john, that s a good way to describe it. who would have thought that it would come to this in the united states. let s take a look at some more details for what you and erica just described. so the defense production act, the government directs formula ingredients, inn gred yents that go into formula, to go to formula manufacturers first. in other words, not to other things first. also the fda making it easier to import formula to the u.s., something that has really not been done very much at all. also, operation fly formula, the department of defense helps expedite formula imports by using commercial planes that have contracts with the dod. also, the fda and abbott a
from now. we will bring you those comments from that podium there live. white house officials say today s meeting will allow the three nations to, quote, coordinate a path forward and compare notes on the move. this comes just hours before president biden leaves for his first trip to asia since taking office. over the next several days he will make stops in south korea and japan with hopes of reinforcing those alliances, of course, with china in mind there. plus, we are watching a continuing losing streak on wall street. the dow down again this morning, though, not quite as far as it was earlier. this on the heels of its worst days in nearly two years yesterday. let s begin with white house correspondent john harwood on the north lawn. this meeting, an important show of support for the allies making an enormous strategic change here. do they believe this is baked in? turkey continues to make bones about standing in the way. i don t think baked in, but there does seem to be
environment. finland takes the step of nato membership in order to strengthen not only its own security, but also in order to strengthen wider transatlantic security. this is not away from anybody. like you, mr. president, said nato is protective, not a threat to anybody. at the same time we must not forget that, at this very moment, the proud people of ukraine are fighting not only for their own freedom and democracy, but for our common security. finland, together with the eu and the united states, stands firmly behind ukraine. so, mr. president, once again, i want to thank you for making history with us. thank you. thank you. mr. president, thank you for welcoming president niinisto and me to the white house. the bonds between sweden and the united states, they are strong and long standing, and as you know, swedes first in your home state of delaware in 1638, and we were one of the first countries to recognize the united states as an independent nation in 1783. since th
even as the threat of a north korea missile test looms during this visit. all this is a balancing act as russia s war in ukraine hangs over the white house. today in another public show of support, the president met with leaders of finland and sweden as they pushed to join nato, a historic step as more countries unite against russia and condemn its invasion. the big question here is can turkey get on board? we are following all the headlines out of ukraine and the state of play there. first, let s start at the white house and we are joined now. arlette, tell us more about the president s message and his mind set as he s embarking on this. he s flying to asia for his first trip to the region as president. officials said he had hoped to get there earlier in his presidency, but was constrained due to covid-19 and other crises such as the war in ukraine. but the president will be traveling to both south korea and japan to meet with the leaders of each of the countries as well a
make advances abroad, at home, he s facing significant headwinds. we re talking recession fears, soaring inflation, a stock market selloff, $4 gas in every state and a shortage of baby formula so severe, he invoked a wartime measure to increase production. with us now, cnn white house correspondent arlette saenz and cnn pentagon correspondent barbara starr. what is on the president s agenda? reporter: just to start off, forgive the noise, there s construction here at the white house, but president biden is on air force one flying to asia for his first trip to the region as president. as he wants to reinforce that that region remains a central focus of his foreign policy. now, officials have said that he had hoped to get to the region much earlier in his presidency, but he had been constrained due to covid concerns as well as other brewing crises, including the war in ukraine. the president will first travel to seoul, south korea, where he will meet with the country s new le