Trump invokes law to make more equipment
President Trump went on a Defense Production Act spree Thursday, signing two orders under the law to fast-track production of ventilators and face masks and pledging to issue more such directives in the next few days to help hospitals stretched thin for supplies because of the coronavirus.
Trump — who for weeks refused to activate the Korean War-era law over concerns that it was socialist — began the DPA splurge by pulling the trigger on one order that pushes General Electric and five medical companies to “facilitate” materials for producers of ventilators, which are in short supply at hospitals, especially in New York.
The president said the DPA invocation allows producers of the critical breathing assistance machines to quickly “secure the supplies they need.”
“Today’s order will save lives by removing obstacles in the supply chain that threaten the rapid production of ventilators,” Trump said in a statement.
In a White House briefing later Thursday, Trump announced he had signed a separate order under the Defense Production Act that directs consumer-goods giant 3M to begin producing N95 masks, which are also in short supply at hospitals crowded with COVID-19 patients.
“Hopefully they will be able to do what they are supposed to do,” Trump said.
Additionally, Trump said he was signing an order under the act Friday to prevent medical supplies from being shipped out of the U.S. He vowed to sign more directives under the law as needed.
Earlier in the day, Gov. Cuomo said New York only had six days’ worth of ventilators in its stockpiles.
“That is very troubling,” Cuomo said in a briefing from Albany, during which he also reported that more than 2,300 New Yorkers have now died from the virus, with the total number of cases in the state topping 92,000.
In his White House briefing, Trump said his DPA orders will allow for the production of 100,000 ventilators.
Trump blamed states for the shortage, instead of taking responsibility for delaying orders to ramp up production of sorely needed medical supplies.
“The hardest thing to get are the ventilators, because it takes a while to build them,” Trump said. “By the way, the states should have been building their stockpiles ... We are a backup, and we have done an unbelievable job.”
Trump invoked the DPA for the first time last week to get General Motors into the ventilator production business.
Cuomo and other governors had at that point for weeks pleaded with Trump to activate the DPA.
But the president refused because he said the 1950 law amounted to a “nationalization” of business and compared it to Venezuela’s socialist government.
Trump’s change of heart came after his health experts projected as many as 240,000 Americans could die from the virus even if strict social distancing guidelines are maintained.
On Thursday, the U.S. death toll from the respiratory illness climbed above 5,000, with at least 230,000 confirmed cases nationally — more than any other country.
Ventilators can be the difference between life and death for coronavirus patients suffering from severe symptoms, like pneumonia.
Still, hospitals in New York City and elsewhere are operating on a shoestring, with some reporting that they are forced to put several patients on one ventilator because of shortages.
Trump said the ventilators to be shipped under his orders will begin arriving at hospitals “in a week and a half.”