House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, both Democrats, are aggressively pushing the President to enforce the Defense Production Act. Governors Newsom and Cuomo, along with other Democrats, insist they will run out of ventilators and other equipment and want him to invoke the act immediately. Susan Rice claims the President has “screwed this up every step of the way” and must enforce the act right away.
The President is wavering on how much to enforce it. He invoked it but hasn’t fully enforced it. It is an extreme wartime power established during the Korean War.
The act would allow the president to force U.S. manufacturers to build medical equipment for hospitals. It is a take over of industry.
The Washington Post reports that according to a Congressional Research Service report that the law would allow him to:
- Trump could require U.S. manufacturers that already make ventilators to prioritize federal government contracts for supplies over, say, Europe, which is increasing its requests. (The United Kingdom has asked its top private manufacturers to start making ventilators.)
- Trump could require U.S. manufactures to make more face masks and other “critical materials and goods” and offer loans or promises to buy these things. The federal government could then decide which hospitals should get this equipment.
- Trump could block proposed or pending foreign corporate mergers that threaten national security. That seems less of a concern with the coronavirus, where global cooperation is necessary.
- Trump could also have companies “employ persons of outstanding experience and ability and to establish a volunteer pool of industry executives who could be called to government service in the interest of the national defense.” That could turn a company such as, say, Tesla, which primarily makes cars, into one that focuses more on ventilators. CEO Elon Musk said on Twitter his company would be willing to do it. General Motors could also get involved, Politico reports.
Companies usually don’t paid adequately but WaPo promised they will be paid.
The Democrats also want him to deploy the military. Instead of that, why don’t they use their National Guard if that’s what they want? The Defense Production Act isn’t martial law, but bringing in the military is something else.
We are also crashing the economy and this won’t end well if it goes on for any length of time.
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