President Trump Considering “Defense Production Act” to Expand Domestic Production of U.S. Medical Needs

The media is attempting to initiate panic about the Coronavirus in 2020 the same way the media attempted to manufacture panic about an upcoming U.S. recession in 2019.

First things first.  Earlier today Vice-President Pence announced Dr. Debbie Birx will serve as his Coronavirus Response Coordinator. [CDC COVID-19 Resource HERE]

Dr./Ambassador Birx is about as bureaucratically deep state as you can get.

Coming from the State Department Dr. Birx has led the U.S. effort to eradicate HIV/AIDS effort and has a strong pedigree as a 30-year global health official, scientist and physician:

[…] Ambassador Birx is a scientist, physician, and mom, with three decades of public health expertise, including virulent diseases, their vaccines, and interagency coordination. She has been utilizing the best science to change the course of the HIV pandemic and bring the pandemic under control, community by community and country by country.

Her focus over three decades has been on HIV/AIDS immunology, vaccine research, and global health. She has developed and patented vaccines, including leading one of the most influential HIV vaccine trials in history. Three different Administrations across both political parties have relied on her knowledge and judgement. (link)

Additionally Vice President Pence added Steven Mnuchin, Secretary of the Treasury; Dr. Jerome Adams, Surgeon General of the United States; and Larry Kudlow, Director of the National Economic Council to the Coronavirus Task Force.

Members of the President’s Coronavirus Task Force:

• Vice President Mike Pence
• Secretary Alex Azar, Department of Health and Human Services
• Dr. Ambassador Debbie Birx, White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator
• Robert O’Brien, Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs
• Dr. Robert Redfield, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health
• Dr. Jerome Adams, Surgeon General of the United States
• Deputy Secretary Stephen Biegun, Department of State
• Ken Cuccinelli, Acting Deputy Secretary, Department of Homeland Security
• Steven Mnuchin, Secretary of the Treasury
• Larry Kudlow, Director of the National Economic Council
• Joel Szabat, Acting Under Secretary for Policy, Department of Transportation
• Matthew Pottinger, Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor
• Rob Blair, Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor to the Chief of Staff
• Joseph Grogan, Assistant to the President and Director of the Domestic Policy Council
• Christopher Liddell, Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Coordination
• Derek Kan, Executive Associate Director, Office of Management and Budget

It was also reported today that President Trump is considering industrial mandates to medical manufacturers as a stop-gap measure to force them into production of medical equipment needed in the supply chain:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump’s administration is considering invoking special powers through a law called the Defense Production Act to rapidly expand domestic manufacturing of protective masks and clothing to combat the coronavirus in the United States, two U.S. officials told Reuters.

The use of the law, passed by Congress in 1950 at the outset of the Korean War, would mark an escalation of the administration’s response to the outbreak. The virus first surfaced in China and has since spread to other countries including the United States.

U.S. health officials have told Americans to begin preparing for the spread of the virus in the United States.

The law grants the president the power to expand industrial production of key materials or products for national security and other reasons. The biggest producers of face masks in the United States include 3M Corp and Honeywell International Inc.

Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar told lawmakers this week that the United States needs a stockpile of about 300 million N95 face masks – respiratory protective devices – for medical workers to combat the spread of the virus. The United States currently has only a fraction of that number available for immediate use, Azar testified.

[…] “Let’s say ‘Company A’ makes a multitude of respiratory masks but they spend 80% of their assembly lines on masks that painters wear and only 20% on the N95,” the White House official said. “We will have the ability to tell corporations, ‘No, you change your production line so it is now 80% of the N95 masks and 20% of the other.’”

“It allows you to basically direct things happening that need to get done,” the official added.

HHS declined to comment. DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment. (read more)