Your Economy (No Politics)

[arizona1]

Maybe he sent the 400 ventilators to New York?

I don't know where he's sending them but he stealing and confiscating orders from individual states. He's demented and only demented people support him.

Officials in at least 6 states are accusing the federal government of quietly diverting their orders for coronavirus medical equipment

The federal government has been accused of intercepting shipments of vital medical equipment ordered by state authorities to shore up their supplies in the face of the coronavirus crisis.

In March, President Donald Trump had told states to seek their own supplies and minimize their requests from the national stockpile, which has resulted in local authorities scrambling to place large orders of ventilators, masks, and other personal protective equipment.

Trump has put the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in charge of deciding which states are in most need of equipment from the national stockpile, replacing the Department of Health and Human Services, according to The New York Times.

Since then, there have been multiple reports of FEMA or the wider federal government diverting thousands of pieces of equipment from the states that ordered them, without explanation.

State representatives say the situation has caused confusion and dismay.

FEMA "swept up" an order for 500 ventilators made by the state of Colorado last week, Gov. Jared Polis told CNN on April 4.

FEMA spokesperson Lizzie Litzow denied the agency was seizing any shipments, The New York Times reported. FEMA has not immediately responded to Business Insider's request for comment and clarification.

Litzow told The Times that FEMA is aware that "prioritizing PPE deliveries to COVID hot spots can have the unintended consequence of disrupting the regular supply chain deliveries to other areas of the country that are also preparing for the coronavirus."

In comments aimed at FEMA, Polis said on CNN: "Either be in or out, folks ... Either you're buying them and you're providing them to the states and letting us know what we're going to get and when we're going to get them. Or stay out and let us buy them."

The Defense Production Act, which Trump first used on March 27, empowers the president to order manufacturers to make critical equipment, or to prioritize government over private companies and state government in equipment orders.

The Department of Health and Human Services rewrote its definition of the national stockpile on April 3, more closely reflecting earlier comments by senior adviser Jared Kushner that states should not assume they can draw on it.
https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-federal-govt-fema-accused-taking-states-masks-ventilator-orders-2020-4