President Donald Trump signed a bill designed to increase the production of respirators, face masks and ventilators needed by health care professionals in order to fight the U.S. coronavirus outbreak, Newsweek reported.
Originally signed by President Harry S. Truman in 1950, the DPA allows the federal government to direct the private sector to focus its efforts on aiding the defense of the country. In the legislation signed Wednesday, Trump said the shortage of medical equipment during the coronavirus pandemic meets the criteria for using the DPA.
“To ensure that our healthcare system is able to surge capacity and capability to respond to the spread of COVID-19,” read Wednesday’s executive order from the White House, “it is critical that all health and medical resources needed to respond to the spread of COVID-19 are properly distributed to the Nation’s healthcare system and others that need them most at this time.”
“There’s never been an instance like this where no matter what you have it’s not enough,” Trump said during a Wednesday news briefing.
Some House Democrats including House Minority Leader Senator Chuck Schumer have been pushing for Trump to use the powers of the DPA, saying in a March letter that using the act “would ensure we have the materials we need at the ready, rather than wait for disruptions in the global supply chain to subside.”
In recent days, Trump has been using more militaristic terms to describe the U.S. fight against the coronavirus.
“I want all Americans to understand: we are at war with an invisible enemy, but that enemy is no match for the spirit and resolve of the American people,” Trump tweeted Wednesday. “It cannot overcome the dedication of our doctors, nurses, and scientists- and it cannot beat the LOVE, PATRIOTISM, and DETERMINATION of our citizens. Strong and United, WE WILL PREVAIL!”
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