President Donald Trump announced in a March 18 White House briefing that he was invoking the Defense Production Act (DPA) to expand the supply of resources available to deal with the COVID-19 outbreak.
“Thats always the toughest enemy, the invisible enemy, but were going to defeat the invisible enemy,” Trump said at the briefing. “I think were going to do it even faster than we thought.”
The DPA allows the president to direct the production of private sector firms of critical manufactured goods to meet urgent national security needs.
Trumps move seeks to marshal additional resources for Americas emergency response to the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as the novel coronavirus. The Epoch Times refers to the novel coronavirus as the CCP virus because the Chinese Communist Partys coverup and mismanagement allowed the virus to spread throughout China and create a global pandemic.
Trump said he would be signing the DPA measure on March 18, adding that it was being deployed “just in case” and that it “could do a lot of good things, if we need it.”
President Donald Trump listens during press briefing with the Coronavirus Task Force at the White House in Washington on March 18, 2020. (Evan Vucci/AP Photo)We Must Mobilize
Earlier, more than two dozen senators urged Trump to invoke the Korean War-era program to increase production of masks, ventilators, and respirators, as well as expand hospital capacity to combat the outbreak.
“I join 27 of my colleagues in a letter to President Trump urging him to invoke the Defense Production Act of 1950, which authorizes the president to strengthen capacity and supply in extraordinary circumstances,” Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said on March 18.
“Its used in times of war, but we must mobilize as if it is a time of war when it comes to hospitals, beds, supplies, equipment.”
A worker wearing protective gear sprays disinfectant on a truck before entering an area infected with COVID-19 in North Macedonia on March 18, 2020. (Baris Grdanoski/AP Photo)Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) has also called for the deployment of the program. He said in a statement that the nations hospitals face a serious shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) for staff and infected patients, including gowns, gloves, face shields, surgical masks, and N95 respirators.
He added the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) estimates that the United States could need up to 3.5 billion respirators, while the Strategic National Stockpile holds only 12 million.
Leaning Forward
Defense Secretary Mark Esper said at the March 18 briefing that the military is “leaning forward” in its response against the virus.
Esper said the military would provide over 5 million respirators from its own strategic reserves and supply them to the HHS. He added that 1 million masks would be “available immediately.”
The Pentagon said on Tuesday that it would also provide 2,000 specialized ventilators to federal health authorities.
Esper also said that on March 17 he received a briefing at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, Maryland, which he called “probably the militarys premier research institute.”
The secretary said the Read More – Source
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