Defense Production Act

Trump triggers Defense Production Act for the first time

FEMA Administrator Peter Gaynor said activating the statute would help access test kits and face masks.

By QUINT FORGEY

FEMA Administrator Peter Gaynor said the Trump administration on Tuesday would formally implement the Defense Production Act to secure medical equipment sorely needed to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

"So, just a little while ago my team came in, and we're actually going to use the DPA for first time today," Gaynor told CNN in an interview.

Gaynor said triggering the act would help access "about 60,000 test kits," and added that the administration would insert "DPA language" into the mass contracts for the federal government's order of 500 million personal protective masks.

President Donald Trump last week invoked the DPA as the administration broadened its response to the public health crisis, but he has resisted actually activating the statute — insisting that governors bear more responsibility for obtaining potentially life-saving supplies and arguing that the private sector would pitch in to furnish equipment voluntarily.

Meanwhile, state and local authorities have called for more forceful federal intervention as they struggle to get their hands on ventilators, hospital beds and other necessities before health care systems are overwhelmed by the rapidly spreading outbreak.

Gaynor said on Tuesday that the administration "wanted to be thoughtful about not upsetting, you know, the balance," and ensure that "we can get it out to the market and the federal government not consume it all."

"So we're going to use it, we're going to use it when we need it, and we're going to use it today," he said.

Trump also tweeted on Tuesday morning that the DPA "is in full force, but haven't had to use it because no one has said NO! Millions of masks coming as back up to States."