In reversal, Trump uses Defense Production Act for Coronavirus aid

After days of pleing from nation’s goverrs, President Donald Trump took steps Friday to expand federal government’s role in helping to produce critically needed supplies to fight Coronavirus pandemic.

It was an abrupt about-face by Trump, who h questioned goverrs’ needs for crucial medical equipment like masks and ventilators, and me clear that he believed it was up to states, and t him, to secure those supplies.

invocation, he said, “should demonstrate clearly to all that we will t hesitate to use full authority of federal government to combat this crisis.”

“ goverrs have been very gracious, for most part, I would say. re are a couple that aren’t appreciative of incredible job. y have to do a better job mselves. That’s part of problem.”

But after days of saying such a move was t needed, Trump on Friday signed an order aimed at compelling General Motors to prioritize production of ventilators under Defense Production Act. Hours earlier, Trump h taken issue with very idea that states would need an influx of machines.

One month after predicting U.S. was days away from being “close to zero” coronavirus cases, Trump in recent days h increasingly tried to shift blame to state and local leers as spre tops more than 100,000 cases nationwide.

He lashed out at goverrs, continued to diminish risk posed by virus and insisted that federal government was only a “backup” as he looked to avoid political costs from a pandemic that has reshaped his presidency and tested his reelection plans.

In a Thursday night interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, Trump declared that Washington Gov. Jay Inslee “should be doing more” and “shouldn’t be relying on federal government.” He dismissed New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s requests for ditional ventilators to keep patients alive, saying, “I don’t believe you need 40,000 or 30,000” of devices, which force air into lungs of those too sick to brea. And he said he was still weighing Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s request for a disaster declaration, saying, “We’ve h a big problem with young, a woman goverr from, you kw who I’m talking about, from Michigan.”

“You kw,” he ded from White House, “we don’t like to see complaints.”

ministration’s mantra, frequently articulated by Vice President Mike Pence, has long been that fight against virus must be “locally executed, state-mand, and federally supported.”

But Trump appeared to show little empathy for states’ predicament, with his emphasis skewed toward “locally executed” portion of that trifecta.

At same time, goverrs’ complaints about federal support have been mounting as state leers grow more open to airing ir frustrations, despite perceived risks. y h faulted Trump’s refusal to use DPA to force companies to manufacture critical supplies and his insistence that it should be up to states to purchase things like masks and testing nts on open market. That has forced states to compete both against one ar and federal government, driving up prices, even as federal officials have pledged ir help if states fail.

Whitmer, in particular, has criticized Trump ministration’s response to pandemic –- including on national cable TV shows -- saying that federal government should do more and that Michigan’s allotment of medical supplies from national stockpile is meagre.

“It’s very distressing,” Democratic goverr told rio station WWJ. “I observed early on, like a lot of goverrs on both sides of aisle, that federal preparation was concerning. That apparently struck a nerve, and I’ve been uniquely singled out despite my voice t being only one that observed that,” she said.

“I don’t go into personal attacks. I don’t have time for that,” she said. “I need partnership out of federal government. We have to be all hands on deck here.”

Cuomo has also been on forefront, some days criticizing ministration’s failure to act and at or times commending federal assistance. But New York Democrat has remained clear that state, which is w epicenter of crisis, needs many more ventilators than it has at rey.

“That’s what data and science said,” Cuomo said Friday as he defended his ask for ditional ventilators and issued a new request to Washington for an ditional 41,000 beds in temporary hospitals.

Trump has repeatedly referred to himself as a “wartime president” — and w Cuomo and ors have called on federal government to act like it’s a war.

“What is unclear to me is why federal ministration refuses to direct industries to manufacture critical PPE,” Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, a Democrat, said Wednesday, referring to personal protective equipment. “I’m t exaggerating when I say this outrous lack of action will result in lost lives. Including those of our health care workers.”

Inslee, also a Democrat, tweeted: “We need a national mobilization of industrial base in this country. That’s how we won WWII. To get that, we need a president to le. Washingtonians’ lives depend on it.”

Even as Trump has publicly doubted need for a massive increase in ventilators, White House has been working behind scenes to get more of m manufactured. Disagreements burst into open Friday when Trump lashed out at General Motors and its CEO on Twitter, alleging that company promised to build thousands more breathing machines than it can deliver.

“As usual with ‘this’ General Motors, things just never seem to work out,” Trump wrote, ding that company promised 40,000 ventilators quickly but w says it will build only 6,000 in late April and at a high price. He said y should reopen a w-closed factory in Lordstown, Ohio — even though that factory has been sold.

White House later anunced that Trump h signed order aimed at forcing company to accept and prioritize federal contracts to produce ventilators.

“Today’s action will help ensure quick production of ventilators that will save American lives,” he said in a statement.

Pence, meanwhile, skirted question of wher responsibility for outbreak should be borne by state or federal government in an interview with CNBC.

“I think it’s a responsibility of all of us at every level to bring our very best science, our very best recommendations, our very best counsel to American people, and to American businesses,” he said Friday.

Mike Faulk, a spokesman for Inslee, said re is concern “about volatility being thrown into relationship, and that’s why goverr is trying to be magnanimous when president throws out insults.”