WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a member of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, authored an op-ed in Barron’s, the American weekly magazine/newspaper published by Down Jones & Company, on the need for President Trump to federalize the medical supply chain and prioritize the production of personal protective equipment and other critical medical supplies. In the piece, Murphy lays out how his legislation, Medical Supply Chain Emergency Act, would make sure that (1) the administration takes action; (2) ramps up the production of supplies; and (3) gets resources to the places that need them most at fair prices.

Murphy, along with U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai’i), introduced the Medical Supply Chain Emergency Act last week—legislation to force President Trump to implement the Defense Production Act of 1950 and federalize the manufacture and distribution of scarce, in-demand medical supplies.

“Too many health care workers in Connecticut and across the country are being forced to reuse their personal protective equipment and ration medical supplies for patients. In Connecticut, we’ve had to slow down testing because we don’t have enough protective gear to staff both our testing facilities and our hospital in-patient units. And it’s not just a shortage of protective gear. America’s hospitals are dangerously short on ventilators, and there aren’t enough tests or diagnostic kits to keep up with the growing volume of testing needs.” Murphy wrote.

Murphy continued: “That’s why I introduced the Medical Supply Chain Emergency Act with a number of my colleagues, which would federalize the manufacturing, and more importantly the distribution, of medical supplies during this crisis. 

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“This bill would make sure President Donald Trump uses his full authority under the Defense Production Act to direct U.S. manufacturers to produce millions more units of desperately needed medical supplies. The president finally buckled to pressure and operationalized the Defense Production Act, but it was only to minimally increase the production of one piece of equipment: ventilators. That’s totally insufficient,”

Murphy concluded: “That is an absolute abomination. People will die because of his inaction. So it’s up to Congress. We need to take bold action now to federalize the medical supply chain before it’s too late.”

Read the full op-ed here.

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