Businesses across the country are stepping up to the challenges presented by the coronavirus pandemic. After all, that is what people in the United States do. But this has not stopped some politicians such as presumptive presidential nominee Joe Biden, Rep. Adam Schiff, and several governors from demanding that President Trump use the Defense Production Act to coerce manufacturers to make necessary materials and products.
Trump has already invoked the Defense Production Act, a law passed during the Cold War era immediately before the Korean War. Its purpose, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, is to expedite and expand the supply of resources from the U.S. industrial base to support military, energy, space, and homeland security programs.
But Trump has been reluctant to exploit the law because he does not like the idea of the government nationalizing private companies for any purpose. He also feels it unnecessary because many companies are voluntarily stepping up to provide the materials needed to address COVID-19, and he is being very persuasive if they are not moving quickly enough.
If Trump did use this power, it could lead to unprecedented restrictions on private companies, such as those included in Nancy Pelosi’s “Take Responsibility for Families and Workers Act,” under which companies that receive aid from the federal government will have to comply with diversity mandates, report on the demographics of their employees and supply chains, and restructure their corporate boards to allow labor unions to appoint one-third of their members.
Ford Motor Company Executive Chairman Bill Ford said his company is collaborating with General Electric to manufacture ventilators, with 3M to produce powered air-purifying respirators and disposable respirators, and with the United Auto Workers union to make face shields that protect medical personnel from airborne particles that can carry viruses.
Using 3D printers and off-the-shelf parts from their respective companies, Ford and 3M are combining fans from the Ford F-150 cooled seats and 3M HEPA air filters to produce powered air-purifying respirators and are even looking ahead on how this new generation of devices may be produced in the future, boosting 3M production tenfold.
AdvaMed, a medical device trade association, provides a list of its member companies that are creating and ramping up coronavirus diagnostic tests that are desperately needed. Roche Diagnostics, which introduced the first commercial test for the virus in January 2020, received emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration on March 13, and began immediately shipping 400,000 swab-testing kits. The emergency designation means the kit is not yet approved by the FDA, but it can be used to address serious, life-threatening conditions.
Thermo Fisher also received Emergency Use Authorization on March 13 and expects to have 5 million kits by April. These kits provide results in four hours. Abbott Laboratories received an emergency use authorization from the FDA on March 18, immediately shipped 150,000 lab tests, and scaled up production expecting to reach capacity for 1 million test kits per week by the end of March.
Ventilators are a much-needed life-saving device, and Medtronic has increased its production initially by more than 40% and will eventually double capacity to get these machines to patients and doctors.
Honeywell announced it has increased production of the N95 mask, a more complex mask preferred by health professionals working closely with infected patients. It removes 95% of all 0.3-micron airborne particles and is flexible, making a tight fit against a healthcare provider’s face.
Even nonmedical companies are converting production lines for needed items. On Wednesday, MyPillow announced it was converting 75% of its production to make cotton face masks. Multiple distilleries, including Bacardi’s partnership with Olein Refinery, are shifting their production lines to produce 70% alcohol hand sanitizers.
FEMA has said it does not need the president to enforce the Defense Production Act to secure medical equipment since private industry is escalating production to meet demand. This is not only a tribute to capitalism and patriotism, it is a rebuke to the “restructuring” of the country that House Democrats’ envision as a way to exert greater control over American industry and personal freedoms. They view the Defense Production Act as a great way to put the government’s foot in the door to implement their socialistic-style policies. Trump should continue to resist giving the federal government more control over any portion of the economy.
Elizabeth Wright is the director of health and science policy at Citizens Against Government Waste.
