President Trump Invokes Defense Production Act, Calls Himself ‘Wartime President’

President Trump on Wednesday announced that he is invoking the Defense Production Act as part of the administration’s efforts to tackle the coronavirus pandemic — and also described himself as being a “wartime president.”

“It can do a lot of good things if we need it,” he said at a White House press conference. “We’ll have it all completed, signing it in just a little while.”

Asked if he saw the nation as being on a wartime footing he said he did and described himself as “in a sense a wartime president.”

Defense Production Act: What is it?

The act ensures the private sector can ramp-up manufacturing and distribution of emergency medical supplies and equipment. The move gives the White House the authority to increase the production of masks, ventilators, and respirators, as well as expand hospital capacity to combat the coronavirus.

Specific Provisions in the Defense Production Act were explained by Fox News:

• Companies are required to accept and prioritize contracts from the government and to prioritize “materials, services, and facilities to promote the national defense or to maximize domestic energy supplies.” While this provision has historically been used to ramp up military production, in the midst of the COVID19 pandemic the act will be used for medical supplies.
• The second provision in the act provides financial measures, such as loans, loan guarantees, purchases, and purchase commitments, to speed up the production of materials “needed to support national defense and homeland security procurement requirements.”
• The act also addresses voluntary agreements – or what the government says is “an association of private interests, approved by the Government to plan and coordinate actions in support of the national defense.” The proviso permits business competitors to work together to plan and coordinate measures to increase the supply of materials.
• Along with the three main provisions, the act also provides the government with the authority to obtain information from businesses, authorizes establishment of the National Defense Executive Reserve, and a Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States – which works on the effects on national security of certain mergers, acquisitions, and takeovers related to foreign investment in the U.S.

WIBC’s Hammer and Nigel discuss more specifics of the President’s latest policy decision in the battle against the Coronavirus pandemic in the clip below.

https://omny.fm/shows/hammer-and-nigel-show/president-trump-invokes-defense-production-act