Politico: Days after ventilator DPA order, White House has done little to push GM
Today, Politico reported that after invoking the Defense Production Act to compel General Motors to start producing ventilators, the Trump administration has “done little to enforce the order” as governors across the country have spoken out of the gruesome shortage of ventilators they face. This is just the latest in a long string of broken promises from the Trump Administration about their botched coronavirus response.
Coronavirus War Room Director Zac Petkanas issued the following statement in response:
“President Trump has been forced to walk back virtually every announcement he’s made, so by this point, it comes as no surprise that yet another one of his promises was just more talk. From claiming the virus would ‘disappear’ by April to overpromising the number of tests that would be available to now lying about using his authority to ensure ventilators are quickly produced, Trump’s empty words are needlessly costing lives. Americans are getting sick and dying because President Trump wasn’t prepared and this administration won’t stop lying about how it continuously botched the response.”
BACKGROUND:
Defense Production Act:
The Defense Production Act Would Allow The Federal Government To Centralize And Consolidate Supply Manufacturing And Distribution, Allowing The Government To Avoid Dysfunction Over Medical Supply Distribution. “Fully using the DPA would allow a single federal agency to serve as a central hub for the coronavirus industrial response, Shulman and other DPA experts said, avoiding the confusion and competition between states and hospitals that has characterized the coronavirus crisis. ‘The DPA is a legal architecture for centralizing, consolidating and understanding where the demand and supply are, where the potentials for manufacturing are, where the bottlenecks in distribution are,’ he said. ‘[It] is available to completely avoid the dysfunction we’re seeing right now.’” [Politico, 4/2/20]
Defense Production Act Expert And Case Western Reserve Law Professor Peter Schulman Said Of The Trump Administration: “Whoever Is Making The Decisions Doesn’t Want To Use The DPA To The Extent Of Its Actual Authority.” “DPA experts say despite the GM order, the White House is still refusing to use the full power of the law, which allows the federal government to coordinate industrial production across entire sectors and up and down a supply chain — not just a single company. ‘Whoever is making the decisions doesn’t want to use the DPA to the extent of its actual authority,’ said Peter Shulman, associate professor at Case Western Reserve University who studies the law’s application throughout history. ‘They should be mobilizing whole sectors of the economy. This is baffling to me.’” [Politico, 4/2/20]
Trump’s Broken Promises:
Trump Promised A Website That Would Help Americans Find Out If They Needed A Test And Where To Find One — There Is No Such Website. Trump claimed he was about to launch a website to help Americans find out if they needed a test and where to find one. There is no such website. Instead, Google launched a coronavirus awareness website that performs neither function the president claimed it would.
The Trump Administration Expected To Have “Well Over 27 Million” Coronavirus Tests In The Market By March 28, 2020 — Today, Fewer Than 1.2 Million Tests Have Been Conducted. Assistant Secretary for Health and Human Services Admiral Brett Giroir said of coronavirus tests at a White House press conference: “We expect that, by March 28th, to be well over 27 million into the market.” As of today at 2:30 PM, fewer than 1.2 million tests have been conducted.
On March 6, 2020, Trump HHS Secretary Alex Azar Promised 4 Million Tests But Delivered Only 25,200. Trump’s Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar promised 4 million test kits would be available by the end of the following week — seven days later CDC and state health labs only had 25,200 tests.
Trump Promised A Network Of Drive-Through Test Sites For COVID-19 — As Of March 27, There Were Only Five. In mid-March, Trump promised a network of drive-through COVID-19 testing sites across the country during a Rose Garden news conference. By March 27, there were only five such sites.
Trump Said The United States Was “Very Close” To A Vaccine, Despite Health Officials’ Warnings That It Was At Least A Year Away. On February 25, Trump said “We’re very close to a vaccine.” National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases’ Dr. Anthony Fauci disagreed, saying: “In order to get a [coronavirus] vaccine that’s practically deployable for people to use, it’s going to be at least a year to a year and a half at best.”