WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a member of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, appeared on MSNBC’s Morning Joe on Wednesday to discuss the Trump administration’s response to COVID-19 and new legislation he introduced to federalize and add critical oversight and transparency to the supply chain for essential medical supplies and equipment. Supported by 46 Senate Democrats, the Medical Supply Transparency and Delivery Act requires the president to utilize all available authorities under the Defense Production Act to mobilize a federal response to the pandemic through an equitable and transparent process.

“Today…46 of us in the Senate…are introducing legislation that would require the president to use the Defense Production Act to dramatically ramp up the number of swabs, the number of testing cartridges, the number of masks that we're making in the United States,” Murphy said.

Murphy continued: “Your question is a good one, why has the president not done this? He's done it in dribs and drabs. He's used the Defense Production Act for a small order here or a small order there. What we understand is that big business interests through the Chamber of Commerce have been lobbying the president not to use his powers under the Defense Production Act to make more medical equipment, and then also to make sure it gets distributed to the right places. And the reason for that is that those industries are making a lot money by price gouging, by the scarcity of the supplies today, and they don't really want the federal government coming in and dictating how much they produce and what price it's made at.”

“The Defense Production Act would allow these manufacturers to still make a profit. We just don't want them to make an outrageous profit over life and death. And so, our legislation would require more production but also as you mentioned require transparency, require the president to explain exactly how many swabs do we need, and how many can be produced in America, and where are they going. Right now we don't have that visibility on what the administration is doing,” Murphy concluded.

Click here to view the interview in full.

The Medical Supply Transparency and Delivery Act would:

  • Require publicly reported national assessments on a weekly basis to determine national critical equipment supply and requirements.
    • These reports will also identify industry sectors and manufacturers most ready to fill orders, stockpiles that can be refurbished or repaired, manufacturers that could expand production into PPE and medical supplies, and supplies and equipment that can be redistributed to new hotspots. 
  • These reports would also include direct outreach with essential employees and healthcare workers.
    • Establish an Executive Officer to oversee acquisition and logistics for COVID-19 equipment production and delivery.
    • The Executive Officer will have all the authorities available under the DPA.
    • The Executive Officer is required to issue major purchase orders under DPA for supplies identified in the assessments, oversee all distribution of critical medical supplies, and make recommendations to the President on increasing national production capacity of supplies.
    • The Executive Officer will be a civilian position appointed by the Secretary of the Defense and will be authorized additional uniformed and DOD civilian personnel in supporting roles.
    • The Executive Officer will ensure that all unused supplies in excess of need will be turned over to the Strategic National Stockpile.
    • The Executive Officer will terminate after confirming to Congress that all State and territorial medical supply needs have been met and national stockpiles have been replenished.
  • Increase transparency regarding the distribution of supplies and equipment.
    • The Executive Officer is required to publicly post all states’ requests for assistance, metrics and criteria for amount and destination of distribution, metrics for determining hotspots and areas of future concern, and production and procurement benchmarks.
  • Require a comprehensive plan for COVID–19 testing, including viral and antibody testing.
  • Establish a comprehensive plan to address necessary supply chain issues in order to rapidly scale up production of a COVID-19 vaccine.
  • Require a GAO report to identify lessons learned and make recommendations on future pandemic response.
  • Establish an Inspector General to oversee implementation of the Act.

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