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The House Oversight and the m subcommittee on Coronavirus Crisis held a hearing on the strategic hear from ockpile to the person in charge of keeping it filled. From estifying, officials the Defense Department and health and Human Services. Good morning. Welcome, everybody. Mr. Clyburn today, our select holding a hybrid hearing where some members will appear in person and others will webex. Remotely via since members are appearing in person, let me first remind veryone that pursuant to the latest guidance from the house attending physician, all ndividuals attending this hearing in person must wear a Face Covering. Remove themw you to s you see me doing in order to speak. I know a bit about how your and then t fogged up you dont see where youre going. Wearing a Face Covering are not permitted to remain in the hearing room and recognized to speak. So when youre not speaking, we you to have the facemask orwell not recognize you. Or we will not recognize you. Make a few reminders about hybrid hearings. For those members appearing in will be able to see members appearing remotely on monitors in front of you. On one monitor, you will see all members appearing remotely at once. Webex grid nown as view mode. You will er monitor, see each person speaking during the hearing when they are members who luding are appearing remotely. Or those members appearing remotely, you can also see each person speaking during the hearing, whether they are in remote. R s long as you have your webex site to active speaker mode. If you have any questions about committee e contact staff immediately. Of me also remind everyone the house procedures apply to hybrid hearings. Person,ers appearing in a time is visible in the room in front of you. For those of you who are remote, should be imer that visible on your screen when speaker the active mode with thumbnail. Timer pinned. He remotely, appearing a few other reminders. He house rules require that we see you. So please have your cameras times. On at all not just when you are speaking. Recognized are not should remain muted to minimize and feedback. Se i will recognize members retain the members right to seek recognition verbally. Order, members will be recognized in seniority order questions. If you are remote and want to be regular d outside of order, you may identify that in ways. L you may use the chat function to request. You may send an email to the majority staff. Your mic to mute recognition. Obviously, we do not want people my ing over each other, so preference is that members use to chat function or email facilitate formal verbal recognition. Ensure thataff will i am made aware of the requests you. Will recognize we will begin the hearing in a moment when they tell me they are ready to begin the livestream. Mr. Clyburn today, this committee will ask several simple questions. More than five months into the coronavirus outbreak, after nearly 130,000 americans have died, why is our country still facing critical shortages in personal protective equipment and testing supplies that we need to fight this virus . Why is it that the greatest nation on earth cannot get a 63cent mask to everyone who needs one . This committee has heard harrowing stories about shortages in critical supplies directly to frontline workers, doctors and nurses who are forced to reuse protective mask designed to be worn just once. Some Health Care Workers resulted to wearing garbage bags to protect themselves because their hospitals did not have enough gowns. That is a disgrace. We also heard about bus drivers and grocery clerks who lost their lives because they had to keep working but were not given a mask or a pair of gloves to stay safe. And we heard from nursing homeworkers and january tors who feared they might be the next to die. Now some in the Trump Administration would have us believe that these shortages are a thing of the past. They rattled statistics about the number of supplies delivered, the number of dollars spent and the number of flights in socalled project airbridge. Here are the facts. The white houses own internal data just released a few weeks ago shows we are still facing shortages of tens of millions of n95 masks and gowns and those shortages will persist for month. On june 12, one was reported, and i quote, like all health care providers, we continue to experience shortages of p. P. E. , including n95 masks. These shortages are getting worse. As Coronavirus Infections skile rocket across the country and demand for p. P. E. Serious shortages have been reported in texas and florida and governor of washington has identified, and i quote, widespread shortages in that state. As infections rise, testing labs around the country are also facing surge in demand. Many have issued dire warnings that they are running short of supplies which could cripple our nations ability to conduct coronavirus tests and slow the spread of this virus. I am alarmed that nearly half a year into this crisis, the Administration Still has not adequately addressed these supply shortages. The federal response has been hobbled by at least three critical areas. First, the administration lacks a clear chain of command. Rather than rely on career officials led by a single official, the president has apointed different first, agencies and task forces including one led by his soninlaw Jared Kushner to handle this problem. It has been a result of delays and waste of resources. They favor Certain Companies and the administration has often relied on inexperienced politicallyconnected contractors. A form by President Trumps former deputy chief of staff was awarded a 3 Million Contract to rovide respirator masks to the navajo nation. It has reportedly delivered the wrong type of masks. Further, rather than take the responsibility for directly purchasing and distributing supplies using the defense production act and other legal authorities, the Trump Administration has largely deferred to the private sector. This has forced states, cities and even individual hospitals and businesses to compete for scarce resources driving up prices. Oday, chairwoman maloney transmitted to this subcommittee out tling memo that lays how ineffective this handsoff approach including the administrations signature program, project airbridge. The memo shows that the strigs refused to take responsibility for determining which recipients will receive p. P. E. Or how much they could be charged. The memo shows medical supply companies pleaded with the administration to provide more guidance and to take a more active role in procurement. But according to one company, and i quote, politics has gotten in the way of that, end of quote. Thank you, chairwoman maloney for sharing your work with us and for entrusting the subcommittee to move forward. I can assure you that we intend to get to the bottom of this. As i have said before, the purpose of this committees oversight is not to cast blame for past failures, but to to make improvements for future success. So today, your goal is to better understand why the administration has failed to meet our countrys need for p. P. E. And testing supplies and to seek a commitment from the witnesses to take concrete steps to finally address these shortages. I now yield to the Ranking Member for his opening statement. I thank our three witnesses who are going to be testifying today. Mr. Jordan america has been through a lot the past few months and seen the best in people from our frontline workers to help the sick, to our doctors and nurses mr. Scalise who have struggled as well, the education from educators and Small Business owners who worked to make payroll, researchers who are working to find a cure. But i dont think enough credit has been given to the teams to the three of you represent and the work that you have done to help america respond to this crisis. We face an unprecedented logistical challenge and china was the house will be in order. Ing needed medical supplies as they were lying to the rest of the world. I have some experience with these kind of challenges when we went through Hurricane Katrina and while Hurricane Katrina hit a limited area, this pandemic hit this entire country and hit the entire world at the same time. You can imagine the incredible challenges that it brings with it when you are not just dealing with an isolated crisis but dealing with a Global Crisis and have to respond fast. The incredible work your teams to ramp up production of p. P. E. As well as testing, the equipment thats needed, getting facilities up and running, we owe the men and women of your teams a tremendous debt of gratitude and let them know how much we appreciate the work they have done in these trying times. As america gets ready to celebrate our Independence Day on 4th of july, we confront a moment in the coronavirus pandemic. We have learned a lot and those lessons have saved lives. My home state of louisiana and city of new orleans got hit early. New orleans faced some of the earliest Hospital Capacity scares. The reason economies were shut down was to flatten the curve. In those darkest days when there was a concern about a shortage of ventilators, i want to personally thank the rear admiral because i remember speaking with you specifically as well as fema director about the concerns. My governor and i worked together and the Administration Responded and you delivered those needed veapts to us. And i know you did the same for new york and other regions that were concerned they would hit that shortage and fortunately we never did hit that shortage thanks to that quick work and that phone call was on a sunday and you delivered. I appreciate what you did and what your team did to respond so quickly. Please convey that thanks to you. It helped our state and city of new orleans to be able to respond. I just want to point that out so that people know there was so much done behind the scenes by the administration to respond. Doctors learned how to safely treat patients without putting them on ventilators. Doctors are not innovating aggressively as they used to. They have learned that in innovation can do damage to the lungs and learned how to keep Health Care Workers safe. While still some need ventilators, demand has dropped. The use of simple blood thinners is saving lives because autopsies showed that they were getting blood clots. Steroids and remdesivir is showing tremendous progress. The death rate that is dropped. We learned about who is most vulnerable and how we can better protect those populations. For example, we know that the policy of prohibiting covidpositive patients from returning to Nursing Homes saved lives. In those 45 states where republicans and democrats followed the guidelines, we saw lower death rates among seniors in Nursing Homes. Policies that mandated that covidpositive patients be returned to Nursing Homes even if they werent capable to take care of them turned out to be a death sentence and we havent gotten the answers to learn more about that. I would ask the majority if we could join together, all of us, ask those five governors who decided to go against those guidelines if they would share those answers with us and the country and the families of their victims who are still demanding answers and we will continue to press. The hard learned lessons including the lessons are underscored. The virus continues to spread. It is not an even spread. Cases are dropping in many areas of the country. We have learned this virus spikes in concentrated areas and does so rapidly and a lot we can learn from applying those simple recognitions. What i would say to the young people of america, you have worninged hard and many cases you had home school and deal remotely with the ending of your education, maybe not able to start your new career in the world as you were expecting, but as you are experiencing more freedom, that freedom comes with responsibility. We are seeing that spikes primarily affecting young people and learning a lot about young people getting together in very crowded areas has expedited the spread. We just urge young people to avoid that spread. Learn from the things you are learning. You dont want to share it with your parents and grandparents and putting people at risk. All americans should follow the c. D. C. Guidelines. Where masks where are possible and recommend social distancing. We know how important social distancing still is. We all need to do our parts in stopping the spread and recognize how much better prepared we are today. We are conducting over 500,000 tests. We have a chart that shows the dramatic increase this country has done responding to the shortage of tests that we saw back in march where they were almost nonexist ant and you saw the president expedite through operation warp speed including the defense production act and we are conducting 600,000 tests a day. We need to keep growing this number but see that dramatic increase to see how the administration has continued to respond. It is important to notice how we have come together, even with china the house will be in order. Ing and liing to the world how we have picked up the pace and done more on our own. While so states have experienced rapid spikes that we need to watch, all americans need to know the following, one, there is not a single state in this country that has reached Hospital Capacity. That was the main thing which used to close their economy. Number two, our doctors have a better understanding how to treat patients and we have seen that from less use of ventilators and more use of therapies like remdesivir. We know how to protect our most vulnerable populations and as governors are saving lives that the other governors would follow that lead. Four, tremendous progress continues to be made on vaccines and therapies and we need to get government out of the way. It is shocking this week as we are pushing every body, government, private sector, all people to do more to find a cure and slow the spread that the Majority Party would bring a bill to the floor this week that according to the council of economic advisers would make it harder to find cures for diseases as we are pushing government to find a cure. The bill that was brought to the floor this week would actually according to them, maybe bring 100 fewer drugs to market. We are trying to get more drugs to market not fewer. Hopefully that isnt the trend that continues. Five, the role and responsibility of individual americans to stop the spread is better understood and needs to be followed. As america continues to move forward, hopefully schools will reopen and businesses will continue to reopen and continue to learn more about how to better protect ourselves against this disease. I look to forward to hearing from our witnesses. And i yield back. Mr. Clyburn i yield i would like to introduce our witnesses. Welcomese subcommittee the rear admiral, the leader of femas supply Chain Stabilization Task force and logistics of the joint chiefs of staff. And we welcome the admiral, the assistant secretary for health at the department of health and Human Services. And we are pleased to have with us assist ant secretary of defense for ack which situation. I thank all of the witnesses for being here and i would like the witnesses to stand so i may swear them in. Please raise your right hands. Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you are about to give is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you god . You may be seated. Let the record show that the witnesses answered in the affirmative. Without objection, your written statements will be made part of the record. Rear admiral, you are recognized for five minutes for your opening statement. My neice is a neice on long island. Through Daily Communications im cognizant of the needs of Health Care Workers. On 19 march i was asked to support the critical supplies needed to combat the pandemic. It was clear the Global Demand for critical medical supplies could not be met domestically as u. S. Based manufacturing was limited. Upon arrival from the pentagon, i realized the Strategic National stockpile could not address the nations requirements as the bulk was shipped to states and leaving no direct federal resources. Our goal has been to provide medical supplies to where and when its needed and made a decision to leverage the strength for whole of america approach. Unlike a hurricane, the pandemic did not damage the medical supply chain. And the warehouses and the trucks are working and employees had experience little effects from covid. The supply chain and network that delivered to every hospital, nursing home and First Responder at speed was available to be leveraged in a Publicprivate Partnership. However, the domestic consumption of an array of supplies was greater than usual and rapidly depleted supplies were to get shipments from overseas. This partnership is in line with how the federal government responds to disasters which are locally executed, state managed, federally supported. With the shortage of p. P. E. , acceleration of the commercial market was required because we could not wait for shipments from critical resources. Airbridge supplied. Airbridge is about speed of manufacturing resources. Supplies may not be aggregated in federal resources. And on to other municipalities and Health Care Workers on the front lines. Airbridge provided speed to the front line worker and limited touches in the distribution processes. On 29 march, the first line with gloves masks. 30 april, and a month later, project airbridge delivered into e United States 800,000 n95 masks. Million surgical gowns, two million thermthermo meters. And not available to our Health Care Workers if normal shipping were used. The commercial supply chain was erpt oriented and further refined by prioritization, Public Hospitals first then v. A. Hospitals then private hospitals and Nursing Homes. A fema prioritization scale that stood up to do that. And new york, new jersey, chicago, new orleans, detroit. This was a balance across the country feeding hot spots and providing supplies to those who did not have major covid outbreak. The sing decisions ensures right supplies get to the right place at right time. We consolidated businesses and data from the six major creating data information. For the first time using a supply chain, we were able to see the supply chain from supplier to point of care. By the first week of april, we could see competing companies and how the supply chain was filling orders from Nursing Homes and hospitals. And for them further distribution down the actual point of care in any county across the country. Into whereema visket supplies went. They entered into legal agreements. These agreements allowed the use of Business System data at fema to manage the pandemic response. These legal agreements limited the sharing of information. The agreements required the commercial market to provide the material and provide the government with data on where the material was provided. Looking ahead, we are preparing to increase our reserves and expanding domestic. Using the defense production act we are increasing supplies and pharmaceuticals. This is a complex task. It cannot be forced companies to make medical supplies. This is being done at speed and used with high potential. We have more ventilators than before the pandemic thanks to u. S. Prouk. Recovid, we had less than n858 masks. And the stockpile had no ventilator drugs and growing to five in stock. These efforts are part of an overall strategy and build a supply chain capable of being responsive and modernized stockpile with more u. S. Production. Thank you for the opportunity to testify. I look forward to answering uestions you may have. On march 12, secretary azar requested that i lead the coordination of covid19 testing efforts within the department of health and Human Services and to be clear, although i am assuming some of my traditional roles as the assistant secretary i am maintaining my role in testing and redx diagnose not particular program to make sure these are translated into practice. Before i discuss supplies and allocations, we are concerned about recent data from several states indicating rise in infections and uptick in hospitalizations and deaths. The great majority of counties are maintaining a low infection burden. Knowing that the current outbreak is driven by younger adults who are asymptomatic and much better position in terms of our p. P. E. Supplies and testing, we can reverse these Current Trends if we work together. We must take personal responsibility and be disciplined about our own personal behavior. Wear a Face Covering. Wash your hands, stay at home if you feel sick, if you have been in close contact with someone infected or in a gathering without appropriate precautions, get tested. Follow the guidelines for opening up america again. The criteria are very specific and as relevant today as where we were when we released them. We are initiated surge testing in coordination with state and local officials. The nation has performed over 35 llion covid19 tests and 550 day. Per 550,000 per and even without major technical advances, the nation will have the capacity to perform. But with emerging new techniques with pooling of samples and point of care technology, that number could be 80 million available per month if they are needed. To get to this point where we have such a rich testing ecosystem, we address challenges and implement a phased approach especially now during reopening when the need for testing is at its greatest. In march, we developed 41 communitybased drivethrough testing sites in collaboration with state and local partners. 18,000 ites have tested 3 people. Next, we leveraged tress trusted pharmacies to expand Community Testing for minorities and underserved. This is providing testing at 624 testing in states. 17 of which are in communities with moderate to high social vullperblet. This program has tested over 220,000 individuals. Federally qualified individuals serve people. They provide care to one in five of those uninsured, one in three in poverty and 1. 3 homeless, again to assure we reach these most vulnerable. 94 now offer covid testing. To further fight covid19 among minorities as well as rural and other socially vulnerable communities, my office, office of minority health, announced a school of medicine as the awardey of an initiative to create and develop and implement a Strategic Network of organizations to deliver covid19related information. I would like to close by recognizing my fellow officers in the United States Public Health Service Commission corps, the uniform service that i lead. 4,536 officers have deployed are addressing the pandemic response. I thank each and every one of these officers and their families and on their behalf, i want to thank all of you in congress for supporting our Training Needs and the establishment of a Ready Reserve corps to supplement ranks during a National Emergency. Thank you for the opportunity to provide these remarks. Mr. Clyburn thank you very much. Assistant secretary. Chairman clyburn and Ranking Member scalise. Thank you for the opportunity to testify on matters related to the department of defenses role n distributing p. P. E. , medical equipment and testing supplies during the coronavirus pandemic. While covid19 has had unprecedented impact on the nation, secretary esper has contributed to the administrations whole of government response. Today i will describe Key Developments how the enterprise has utilized existing and new authorities in support of the other federal agencies. This includes our work ensuring an adequate supply of p. P. E. , medical equipment to control the spread of the virus and protect american lives. The covid19 pandemic has highlighted shortfalls in the p. P. E. Supply chain. President trump invoked the defense production act and he delegated authority to the secretary of health and Human Services to determine nationwide priorities and allocation of the health and medical resources. We have been supporting h. H. S. To execute. On march 27, the president signed the cares act that includes language and resources to mitigate critical shortfalls and create and spapped the industrial capability. I thank congress for passing the cares act and all of the support. To ensure the department could leverage all the resources support, my boss, the undersecretary of defense, ms. Lord, created the joint ack which situation task force. It can access the work force, our expertise quickly and effectively. Hey worked with h. H. S. And supports replenishing the National Stockpile and working to expand domestic Manufacturing Base for certain items. This line of items includes critical medical supplies and p. P. E. I would like to address the areas you asked about in your invitation letter, p. P. E. And medical test supplies. In the area of p. P. E. , d. O. A. Has been supportive. D. O. A. Has executed 13,000 contract actions obligating 800 million as of june 22nd and includes fema Mission Assignments and h. H. S. Interagency agreements. D. O. A. Efforts provide test kits, ventilators, pharmaceutical drugs to p. P. E. And government partners to include ongoing efforts to supply 15,000 Nursing Homes with two weeks supply of p. P. E. And 107 million p. P. E. To the jaff it center in new york city. We have taken steps to address the reliance of foreign suppliers and particularly suppliers. We have executed over 250 million in increased production here in the United States. Our i investments will increase production beginning in july ith a increase of 70 million n95 masks and the u. S. Will meet the demand beginning in 2021. D. O. D. Has played a significant role in areas of need throughout the country. We have health, h. H. S. And three billion of contracts to deliver over 22,000 ventilators to the Strategic National stockpile. This enabled h. H. S. To meet critical demands and posture for the response for any resurgence of covid. We support the longer term of stockpile of veapts. As testing is fighting against covid. We face a global shortage. Once we realize we are going to run short, we engaged industry to determine where we can increase capacity. In late april we awarded a contract to expand swabs. And we awarded an effort to test kits starting in december. We are exploring additional proposals to expand tests in covid19. A strong domestic and Industrial Base is critical to the economic and national security. Rapidly sourcing procuringing and moving items when transportation corridors are not operating is challenging. We have demonstrated to support the interagency requirements and provide support to our nation. Im proud of the departments response to the National Emergency and to our dedicated individuals who have worked diligently on behalf of the American People. I look forward to your questions. Alone. Masks in july but the imports and domestic investment together will only supply about 130 million masks. That leaves a projected shortfall of about 30 million masks. The document suggests that it could be made up by decontaminating and reusing old asks even though the f. D. A. , c. D. C. And largest mask manufacturer 3m have raised safety concerns about this method and many workers have refused to use it. Admiral, how is it possible that more than five months into this crisis, our country is facing a possible shortage of 30 million n95 masks this month . Let me put a little context on this. What the supply side does not have because i have no visibility of knowing what states, local municipalities and private institutions have bought. So i did not add into this the hundreds of millions of masks that i know the state of california has bought or other states for that fact. I did not try to estimate that into my supply calculations. Secondly, for context, the covid bars also represent emand, opening america, that precovid medical and then the worst Case Scenario of every worker i have listed there, nonhealth care, Janitorial Services, everybody that thinks they need an n95 mask, but may not need an n95 mask. Its ag stacked demand chart with worst case estimates. But i did not add in the supply side all those unknown factors that i could not know. Mr. Clyburn i thank you for that. But this report also projected shortages indicated projected shortages may be conservative. And let me quote from it. Steadily declining covid hospitalization rates should reduce daily p. P. E. Usage. Thats in the report. However, hospitalizations are skyrocketing. They have reached record highs in my home state of south carolina, in texas, in arizona and many other states. And i just heard late last night or early this morning that there where there iction beds. 1 over capacity for now, admiral, do you agree that the surge that we are now experiencing could very well increase the demand for. P. E. s . The surge of cases and then therefore, the surge of hospitalizations, the demand flies on here consider that we consider that we completely open up and conducting all of the premedical covid. So as states manage their issues and then limit elective surgeries or other surgeries, that p. P. E. Would then be able to go for these items. Yes, im cognizant of the increases. But states are reporting and hospitals are reporting more supplies on hand and ill address that as we go forward, sir. Mr. Clyburn thank you very much. I see my time has expired. I do have one or two other questions. But im going to lead by example our ranking to member scalise. Mr. Scalise thank you, mr. Chairman. D ill start with the rear admiral. There has been a lot of questions raised about the defense production act and see it continuing to pop up of people saying why isnt it being used and i go back and look back in march, april and may, numbers of examples where President Trump actually did invoke the defense production act to smur more things like ventilators when they were in short supply, trying to get other things brought forward, including masks, using the defense production mask. Are you aware where the defense production act has been invoked by President Trump to move things faster here in production . Yes, sir. The defense production act as was indicated, it was first the authorities were given to health and Human Services and fema. And then i believe very shortly after that, it was also used to revent the shipping of medical supplies overseas and then rapidly followed by uses for the purchasing and production of ventilators. We have subsequently dived that supply chain for ventilator production and have used it multiple times for parts and components for production of ventilators. I brought over from the department of defense ack which situation officials to help those 11 different manufacturers. Fine pinch points and used the defense production act and filter material and other consumeables to relieve supply chains so they could make more. Mr. Scalise you hear people still saying the defense production act hasnt been used but you have cited where it continues to be used. Can you testify, have you seen similar uses of the defense production act to help america meet this challenges . I have experience where i have seen this used quite often, title 1 and title 3. And we used it a lot. And what i would tell you is that you have seen that immediately and early remarks, we sent our lead, Senior Executive over to fema to lead the defense production act task force. The other things that the Administration Challenges us that we havent used a lot which is title 7 where we get industries to collaborate and work on things. And i think thats going to be invaluable in bringing domestic medical equipment to the United States. Mr. Scalise i appreciate that you have given those examples and i applaud President Trump for using so many other tools that he has had available to meet this challenge to increase the production of ventilators, masks, gloves, so many other p. P. E. Supplies. But i want to ask you, admiral. This committee hasnt put a focus on china not just Holding China accountable but doing more work to bring that manufacturing back. They were the house will be in order. Ing p. P. E. Supplies. They were buying them from other countries to hold on to them so once the rest of the world found out, there was nothing to purchase. Do you think it is in the interest of the United States of america to bring manufacturing back into this country so we are not reliant on china in the future . Yes, the Industrial Base Expansion Efforts Going Forward are the lynch pin of what we need to do and need to make more here and larger stockpile and write contracts to have Ready Reserve, whether it be a state or federal, have the ability to contract from a u. S. Manufacturer. Thats what we are trying to do. Mr. Scalise i appreciate that testimony and i hope we put more focus on this congress because congress should help and not just the administration on their own to do more manufacturing here so we arent as reliant. Even if china lies, manipulates and does the things that they have done in the future. Hank you, witnesses. Even though you went to the wrong high school in new orleans, i did want to ask you a serious question and we have been doing a lot of investigation into Nursing Homes. Your he agency has given guidance to Nursing Homes and most states have followed it. Have you seen the examples that they went against c. M. S. Guidelines . Did you find out why . And did the deficient yations lead to deficits that have occurred of seniors that never should have died if they wouldville followed the federal guidelines . Thank you for that question, but i think i went to the right high school. What you are referring to is something we have to look back. The c. D. C. Was very clear that in order to take care of a covid nursing home patient, there eeded to be pretty significant etsures and staff, cleaning, cetera. If you couldnt do those things, you shouldnt have it. And there were policies that said, doesnt matter, we are going to send you that patient. I wasnt there. I wasnt that medical director but a concerning practice because it puts infectious people into a place that if we know other residents get it, you mortality. , 50 that isnt happening. Mr. Scalise thank you. Mr. Chairman, i yield back. Mr. Clyburn before i move onto the members, i wish to reiterate what i said at the top of our meeting today. I dont have authority to keep anybody out of this room, but i have authority over whom i may recognize to participate in this hearing. I made it very clear that if you are not wearing masks, im not going to recognize you. This is not jim clyburn, i just want to reiterate a couple of things here. Ranking member scalise made it very clear after the last meeting that you all honor this with mask wearing. Its no big deal. I appreciate that. Dr. Green. Kevin mccarthy made it very clear. Wearing a mask is the best opportunity for us to keep this economy open. Keep us working. Keep us safe. And help us as we build towards that vaccine where we are in a much stronger position than any other country before. I agree with all of these. And there are others that i wont bother to read. I would hope that we would do our part so im going to reiterate that we are going to honor the wearing of masks, because thats what the attending physician has instructed. Either as not made it for this instance but made it and social distancing and wearing a mask. With that, i yield mr. Scalise would the chairman yield . I know we talked about this. Privately as well. I think we have seen today everybody has been complying. Is there any suggestion there is not compliance today . The guidelines have been updated and you saw recent guidelines by the attending physician, who did suggest and require masks where in the past they werent mandatory but he social distancing but there was an addition that masks be mandatory and everybody is complying with that. Mr. Clyburn depends how you want to qualify that. Bring a mask into the room and not wear it is not wearing a mask. If we are not speaking, we ought to be wearing a mask. If were not speaking, we ought to be wearing a mask. I made that very clear. I have been around for a while and i understand i understand it when i feel it. And i see it and i feel it. I just want you to know that im going to respond to it appropriately. I yield to the gentlewoman. Im going to direct my first question to rear admiral. You indicated in response to mr. Clyburns question about whether or not your memorandum really was inclusive enough for you to know and understand what the needs are going to be because of the fight we are having. You indicated you didnt know what the states were doing, is that right . Not essentially, maam. I have had conversations with all 50 states. Ms. Waters you did not include in your calculation what the states may have been doing. Many times states were not forth coming. Ms. Waters why dont you know what states are doing . What is the plan . How should you know what the states are doing . Ok. I have had several over the last couple of weeks, i have had several conversations with every state and all of our territories. With their Health Officials and their Emergency Managers to understand their stockpiling and i will tell you that 70 of the 60, have at least 30 to 90 days of supplies on hand. For those who dont have that amount, they have at least 0 days. Ms. Waters reclaiming my time. Do you have a plan by which you absolutely the information forth coming to you so that when you tell us about your projections, we know they are including whatever the federal stockpile is and what the states have . Is there a plan . Yes, maam, there is a plan. Ms. Waters how does the plan work . We are going to have several each lons of supply. We have been able to communicate with the states and the states have told us that there are plans and some states are working towards 90 and even 120 days worth of supply. The National Stockpile with the help of defense although gist particular agency is going to ms. Waters reclaiming my time, do they have a report that they do to you on a regular basis, every week, every month . How does the plan work . The states at this time are not reporting on that. Ms. Waters thats what i understand. Thats why you dont the projections that include them. You dont have a regular plan. Now i want to ask, how do you work with fema . Task m the supply chain force lead embedded within fema. And so that task force is part of administrative gaynors effort of work. Ms. Waters thank you. So does everyone report to you . O you report to anyone else . The chain of command again, i as the supplyfema Chain Task Force lead. That chain of command leads to a unified command group, which is health and Human Services and fema administrator, which then goes to the White House Task force. Ms. Waters thank you. What role does Jared Kushner play in this command . Mr. Curbner plays no role in anything i do. Ms. Waters what role does he what does he do . What is his role in fema . Hes not at fema. Ms. Waters where is he . Special adviser to the white house. Ms. Waters is he involved in contracting for p. P. E. With any organization, with any provider, with any business . Maam, not to my knowledge. Ms. Waters he may be, but you dont know about it, right . I would highly doubt that he has any role in acquisition and contracting. Even myself, the acquisition and contracting people dont work for me. Ms. Waters who is responsible for contracting with private businesses . The fema administrator owns a Contracting Authority along with with mr. Fahey. His team owns the department of defense Contracting Authority. Ms. Waters does the competition still exist between the feds and the states of what p. P. E. I understand that states have on some occasion made contact with International Businesses to get supplies and those supplies on the way have been taken over by the white house. Do you know anything about that . Is competition still going on . I have no knowledge any time where fema has confiscated anything. Ms. Waters i didnt mention fema but i mentioned the white house. Do you know any time p. P. E. That has been ordered by the states and paid for by the states . I have no knowledge. Nobody has presented anything to me that was concrete enough other than conjecture. Ms. Waters may i just wrap this up by asking, who makes the determination about what states get what from the federal supply . Thats a fema process and ill answer to the best of my ability for administrator gaynor. Fema stood up a resource prioritization. That resource prioritization uses information from dr. Birk and the ep deem logists and the requests from the states. That resource cell takes that into account and provides supplies to the states. Ms. Waters i yield back. Mr. Clyburn thank you. The chair now yields to mr. Jordan. Mr. Jordan admiral, what is more important, going to church or protesting . Im a Public Health person and im not going to say what is more important but both need to have protection by the guidelines. Mr. Jordan democrats dont think that. Democrats think protesting is more important. 16 people that go to a sanctuary and they get cited. Nothing happens to thousands and thousands of people. How about this one, what is more important going to a loved ones funeral or protesting . We have to be consistent how we apply things. Mr. Jordan that is the First Amendment. That is part of it, right. You are an american citizen and you understand the constitution has a number of. It doesnt say that protesting trumps. New yorkers who mourned a rabbi and he said my message, the time to proceed immediately to summon them. You go to summons funeral and protest in the streets and not maintain social distancing. What is more important lunning your business or protesting . Again, you are getting your point. Mr. Jordan this is the problem, democrat governors and mayors dont. Mayor garsetty said he was going to turn off peoples utilities if anyone tried to reopen their business. Unbelievable. And yet the mayor, this is what else he said back in april, snitches will be rewarded. Whats whats more important, rewarding snitches who rat out their neighbor for going to an emply beach or having police stop rioters and looters and big groups destroying National Monuments and protesting and destroying private property which is more important . Public Health Standards need to be consistently apply. When theyre inconsistently applied therell be a lot of frustration. Mr. Jordan no kidding. We have seen the height of inconsistency from democrat mayor, democrat governor, all over this country. What do you think is more important, admiral, the president cutting off travel to china, thor pandemic where this pandemic started at an early date or joe biden calling that same action xenophobic. Whats more important . Restricting travel from china and then europe was really critical steps for us to slow the infusion of infected individuals into the country. Mr. Jordan not xenophobic, it is a smart move. I have not seen xenophobea in any discussions. Mr. Jordan democrats sure saw it when the president made a decision. The democrats are defending the World Health Organization. Probably more important we dont give money to an organization that lies to us than continue to support them. What do you think is more important . Continue money to the World Health Organization who lied to us or maybe cutting off the money for the World Health Organization . As the u. S. Representative to the executive board of the World Health Organization its clear that the Organization Needs reforms and i will work with the administration to try to implement those reforms while preserving some very important global Public Health mr. Jordan whats more important, requiring Committee Members to wear a mask when theyre 10 feet apart from anyone else or not sending covid positive people back into Nursing Homes . Which is more important . Thats a Public Health determination. I will say its more important not to send covid positive people mr. Jordan no kidding. Especially important not to do it for 46 days or even one day. Yes, sir. Mr. Jordan is it important we get information from people who engage in that behavior, might it be helpful if the governor would give us that information. Information is always the basis for which we can understand whats happening and how to avoid it in the future, yes, sir. Mr. Jordan admiral irk appreciate your work, i appreciate all the work yall are doing. Commonsense approach to all this versus what were seeing for democrats, cant let people go to a loved ones funeral but we can join thousands of people at a protest. Mayor garcetti can join thousands at a protest, kneel down to them without a mask, thats fine but oh, you go to an empty beach he wants someone to snitch you out, rat you out and report you to the government. I guess you get some kind of reward. Maybe hes handing out ribbons or certificates or something for people who rat out their neighbors. I would like some commps, some consistency about the First Amendment when it comes to democrat mayors and democrat governors around the country. Yield back. Mr. Clyburn as i go to gentlelady maloney, let me ask covid19 a on, is hoax . No, sir, its not a hoax. Mr. Clyburn will it disappear . My rack lousely . Miraculously . We will only gain control over covid19 by discipline measures and a vaccine. Mr. Clyburn in the interim, wearing a mask and social distancing will indicate us doing our part. Yes, sir. We want to stress that wearing a mask, physical distancing, hygiene are all critical Public Health components, yes, sir, youre correct. Mr. Clyburn thank you very much, sir. Mr. Johnson i didnt say its not important to wear a mask, i asked whats more important, that policy or not sending people who are covid positive back into number Nursing Homes. He said the second one is more important than the first. All of them are important but the second one was more important than the first and we would like the information. The Ranking Member has been asking for weeks for this information with no help from you and the majority to get that information. That was my point. And to clarify i think the question was not wearing a mask versus nursing home but wearing in a mask in here when youre 10 feet apart. I dont want to diminish the importance mr. Johnson i thank the admiral for his commonsense answer. Mr. Clyburn yeah, i appreciate that. I reiterate. This is not a hoax. Mr. Johnson i didnt say it was. Mr. Clyburn i want to bring it up. Because a republican president said that it is. Ok. Just want you to know, youre going to be checked for everything that you say in here. Mr. Johnson so are you. Mr. Clyburn im going to stick with the science. Im going to stick with the science. All right. I now yield to mrs. Maloney. Mrs. Maloney thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you to all our witnesses and their work. I would first like to ask the admiral, i want to ask you a straightforward question. Do you believe the Trump Administration provided ad adequate guidance to the Public Sector on how to procure and distribute p. P. E. To the people in our nation who needed it most . Admiral . Maam, i think you meant me. Not adthe admiral. These legal agreements that we signed with the commercial nterprise allowed us to direct where the s to government felt the highest need was. Mrs. Maloney im sorry but according to an investigation my staff conducted which were releasing today the administration completely and utterly failed to provide the private sector with guidance on p. P. E. During the first three critical months of the Coronavirus Crisis. From january all the way through march. We talked to the biggest medical distributing company in the country and the industry board and they told us they were pleading with you for guidance on how to prioritize the distribution of p. P. E. And a host of other critical questions. But you were missing in action. Maam, i dont mean to interrupt but you id like to clarify, ive only been here since the 19th of march so you i would love to answer that from january to march but i was only moved from the pentagon on the 19th of march. Mrs. Maloney ok, the administration was missing in action and according to the trade group, folks in the industry saw that things were getting worse and their requests for guidance were increasing week by week, end quote. They told us, quote, everyone was asking the same questions, but guidance wasnt coming, end quote. On march 28, the president of the Industry Trade group sent a letter literally begging the administration to, quote, provide the Strategic Direction needed to more effectively target p. P. E. Supplies based on greatest need, end quote. So admiral, with all due respect, these companies told us you or the administration failed to provide the guidance that they needed. Now i want to move on. Theres another issue that is even more troubling. Admiral did your agency or anyone else in the Trump Administration ever press a u. S. From y to purchase p. P. E. A specific statesubsidized Chinese Company at exorbitant prices . First, to answer the priority question, we hold mrs. Maloney im Going Forward, i only have five minutes. May i ask apound of order . The gentlelady accused a rear admiral of the United States military of being missing in action, can he at least be able to defend himself . Thats an absurd claim. No one should make a claim to a witness who is a military Service Member to say he was missing in action. She referred to him by name. Thats absurd. He ought to have the opportunity to defend himself, mr. Chairman. Mr. Clyburn i thought she said the administration was mising in ction. She started by saying he was missing in action. Hes a rear admiral of the United States military, he does not deserve to be talked to that way. He ought to at least have the ability to defend himself. Mrs. Maloney, youre recognized. Mrs. Maloney i apologize, i respect the militarying, my father served in the served in the military, my husband and my brother. I respect the military, i was referring to the administration not being there when the people of this country needed them. So now id like to get back to my question, if i could, mr. Chairman. Ill quickly the answer followon question. Theres always been a firewall between the requiring individual and the person who is actually doing the buying. , i know of no direction manipulation or pressure of a contracting official to enter into an agreement with any company. Mrs. Maloney thank you. But according to our investigation, the companies agreed to talk to us, not one but several of them told us that the Trump Administration pushed them to buy p. P. E. For weeks through one particular Chinese Company called b. Y. G. , which is heavily subsidized by the Chinese Government. Ne company told us that h. H. S. Pressured them to buy p. P. E. From b. Y. G. At, quote, a price that was fairly high, end quote. Another company told us that say they, quote, declined purchasing from b. Y. G. Because of the high price and very uncertain supply chain, end quote. Were these companies lying, admiral . Maam, as the head of the supply Chain Task Force, i did no business with b. Y. D. Because one, they were not proven and two i cant speak to the price but they did not have a proven track record or were not f. D. A. Approved. Its also the same company that i think the state of california took lots of risk and bought a lot of masks from but i know of no forcing of anybody to go do business with b. Y. D. Mrs. Maloney admiral mr. Clyburn the gentleladys time has expired. Mrs. Maloney may i ask for an additional minute, i have an important point to make an there was a lot of disruption. Mr. Clyburn i recognize the gentlelady. Mrs. Maloney these companies wrote that theres way too much reliance on these Chinese Companies rather than a Publicprivate Partnership to procure necessary p. P. E. , end quote. I believe this shows clearly the need for us to produce more p. P. E. Here in the United States and i feel this can be a bipartisan issue. Thats why im introducing a bill that would require 10 of the p. P. E. In the Strategic National stockpile to be produced domestically. We cant put ourselves in this position again. This bill is a good first step toward promoting a stronger Manufacturing Base for critical medical equipment. Thank you to the panelist,000,000 colleagues and mr. Chairman, an i yield back. Mr. Clyburn i thank the gentlelady for yielding back. The chair recognizes mr. Luetkemeyer. Mr. Luetkemeyer thank you, mr. Chairman. I thank our Witnesses Today for their service tour country and the hard work you have put in to get our country back up and running here and protect our citizens from this deadly virus. On the ill follow up question with regards to supply chain. I worked on this a lot. Really its your job at this point i guess. What do you see as the percentage of p. P. E. That is now being produced in this country versus previously . Its going to range by product. We go ks i think, as through the summer and into the ll will be almost wholly domestically reliant. Further on down, where were trying to do some effort, its otentially other action, nitrile glove we essentially make zero nitrile gloves in the United States. We are working hard to ramp up that, but its not a light switch. Each product line has a ifferent dimension to it, sir. Mr. Luetkemeyer i think this question may be for you, in the acquisition of these p. Perform e. s, did you see hoarding going on by china . There appears to be some evidence that to that effect. Did you see that quours . Sir, i did not personally see it but i had heard it was going on early in the process. I know through h. H. S. That we put things in place to make sure that we check the supply that was coming from china. Mr. Luetkemeyer i know my state, we wound up with about 48,000 faulty masks from china. Did you see a lot of other faulty p. P. E. That came from china as a result of i dont know why, whether just incompetence, trying to undermine our safety of our citizen, but apparently there was a lot of that. Did you see that as well . Congressman, if i could if i could take that one. So i was extremely worried about the quality of material coming from overseas. So what specifically we did before anything was procured, we used the department of state and folks from embassy, to go visit warehouse, to go visit places that we hadnt done business with before, a lot of times we found out that there wasnt anything there so we didnt make those procurements. The second thing we did was led a contract with Underwriters Laboratories to do inspections for us to prevent that. So we did not procure anything because there were reports of very faulty material coming from china. Mr. Luetkemeyer very good. Admiral, one of the things thats going on is operation warp speed which is to develop a vaccine. I think part of not only develop developing the vaccine but be able to get it distributed should it happen. We dont know for sure if it will, but if it is developed and made available to sit zepp we need to get it out as quickly as possible. Are you working on plans to supplement operation warp speeds development with plans for distribution as well . Yes, sir, congressman. Im not personally involved in that but as the assistant secretary i have good knowledge of that. There is truly a comprehensive program to not only develop a vaccine to procure hundreds of millions of needles which the supply chain is involved with, as well as distributing that. I want everybody to understand too that the distribution of the vaccine will indeed depend on the vaccines characteristics. We hope it can be distributed to the most vulnerable. Those in high need. But to wait for the trials to come out to understand where it works, how it works most effectively. Theres a comprehensive program led by the general who is the logistics guy in the country. The doctor who is one of the foremost vaccine doctors in the world. Mr. Luetkemeyer with regard to reporting of deaths from the covid situation, there are report, i have been talking to medical professionals as well as i think theres evidence even the governor of colorado found out theres been misreport og of deaths for people who may have been involved, for instance, in an auto accident, but had covid in their system, it was reported as a covid death because theres an incentive to do that because hospitals get paid more for covid deaths than an auto accident. Is there truth to that . How does it work . The c. D. C. That gathers the statistics is completely dependent upon the reports of the local coronners which are also dependent on the reports of the attending physicians who list the causes of death. So the federal government is dependent on the locals but yes, there appear to be some misincentives to overcode. We hear anecdotal versing versions of that i cant give you an estimate of whether thats 2 , 5 , 10 but it is something that has to be done at the local level all the way down to the level of the physician. Its impossible for the c. D. C. To go back and investigate those individually. Mr. Luetkemeyer im from missouri, my youngest daughter lives in denver, colorado. In discussion with her and seeing news reports, the fwoverpor of colorado has all of his covid deaths reviewed, i think around the end of may, first part of june, and found that 12 of them were misrepresented. Thats a pretty significant number and i think thats something that h. H. S. Needs to look into to make sure that the numbers and the data that were getting is accurate. Somebody who is unfortunately in an auto accident but is reported a covid death thats a ridiculous statement and a ridiculous part of our data that needs to be cleaned up. I would hope that youd take a look at that and see if we can get something tone. With that, mr. Chairman, i yield back. Mr. Clyburn thank you. The chair recognizes ms. Velazquez. Ms. Velazquez yes, mr. Chairman, thank you very much. I want to respond briefly to the claims that nursing home deaths were caused by the action of the government. That is simply false. The facts are clear. During this crisis, americans have died in Nursing Homes in every state in the continent of the u. S. A. In many states, florida, more than half of the deaths from coronavirus occurred in Nursing Homes. In ohio an estimated seven in 10 coronavirus deaths were in Nursing Homes. As for my state, new york, i grieve for every new yorker who lost their life in this crisis but i am incredibly proud of new yorks response. Our state followed guidance at every step in the process including Nursing Homes. C. M. S. Guidance on march 3, 2020, allowed Nursing Homes to accept covid19 patients. Question, when should a nursing home accept a resident who was diagnosed with covid19 . The answer put out by c. M. S. , a nursing home can accept a resident diagnosed with covid19 as long as they can follow c. D. C. Guidance. They were following the guidance put out by this administration which was often changing daily. At we look, however, was support and testing equipment into Nursing Homes quickly to prevent the spread of the virus. And even in states like new york that were hardest hit, other states like texas and florida. E seeing new cases arizona hit a seasoningle day record of more than 3,000 cases, and fatalities approach 1,600. Though each state is required to report cases and deaths in Nursing Homes to the c. D. C. They are not required to share this publicly and states like arizona are choosing not to. As of early june, more than 43,000 longterm residents and staff have died from covid19. Representing over a third of the nations known coronavirus deaths. This includes blue state, red states and purple states. So lets get the data from the select and committee can have that and also hear from c. M. S. About health and safety regulations and put this talking point to rest while americans are die republicans and democrats. Admiral, in april, h. H. S. Whistleblower complaint by dr. Bright alleges he was pressured to award contracts based on political connections to the Trump Administration and his family. Doesnt it concern you that there are reports of contracts that prioritize political kecks to the Trump Administration over science and the safety of the American People . Thank you, maam. I dont have any knowledge of any contract that had a priority other than science and what was right for the American People. Ms. Velazquez did you read the article did i read what ms. Velazquez dr. Bright, did he file a complaint . Yes, maam, i know dr. Bright. I really am sorry, its hard to hear the question, maam. I really do apologize. Im trying to answer but could you maybe repeat that. Ms. Velazquez dr. Bright. Is he a real person . Yes, i know dr. Bright. Ms. Velazquez did you read the article in the New York Times . No, i dont read the New York Times. Ms. Velazquez ok. I just dont, im too busy doing what im doing. Im happy to answer a question but i dont routinely read the New York Times. Ms. Velazquez you dont read an article that i im sure your staff brought up to you based on the facts that dr. Bright raised a complaint as a whistleblower about behavior from the Trump Administration. Prioritizing political connections. Let me ask you. The Department Takes every whistleblower complaint seriously. I know its being investigated by the secretary. I dont have any knowledge of ny pressure on dr. Bright. Ms. Velazquez after that complaint and discussion in the media, on political connections, what steps have you take ton make sure that there is a level Playing Field in the federal marketplace so that everyone has the opportunity to compete based on experience and the products and services they can deliver . At a time when so Many Americans were dying . I certainly agree with your premise. We always do Everything Possible to make sure we have a as fair a procedure as possible. Im sure the complaints by dr. Bright are being investigated through our yen counsel according to, and i know the secretary takes every whistleblower complaint seriously as i would. Im just not involved with dr. Bright on that level. Mr. Clyburn the gentleladys time has expire. Let me be clear with your answer you know dr. Bright and you are familiar with this algigs . Yes, sir, of course. Mr. Clyburn and you say it is being investigated . I am not investigating it but he second rehair has put out notice that he takes whistleblower complaints seriously and it is being investigated by the normal channels. Mr. Clyburn the chair recognizes ms. Lofgren. Ms. Lofgren thank you, mr. Chairman. I appreciate your witnesses that are here today. I want to extend so much appreciation from my district in indiana for the service of all witnesses here today. You three guys face an impossible task. China and the w. H. O. Lied about the extent of the crisis and its well documented that china used that time to p. P. E. That was vital to this country. Mrs. Walorski and they depleted the national National Stockpile in the h1n1 outbreak and never replenished it. The odds were against you guys from the very beginning. Then you had a National Media super eager to paint a picture, the New York Times published an article that said amid desperate need for ventilators, calls grow for federal investigation. Which said that u. S. Needed as many as one million ventilators to adequately respond to the pandemic and only had 200,000. Did the u. S. Really need one million ventilators . Maybe ill answer that. As an intensive care physician i was incredibly involved early on with the allocation of every single ventilator, every single request. No we did not need a million ventilators and we did not need 0,000. Ms. Walorski the New York Times article mischaracterized the study by the society of Critical Care medicine that estimated as many as one Million People could require ventilator treatment, thats a huge difference from needing one million ventilators. Whether it was an honest mistake or not, such an eyepopping figure got a lot of attention. It rocketed around twitter and facebook. A New York Times reported an incorrect figure and said the Trump Administration was dooming people to die. It was retweeted 471 time. E eventually tweeted a correction days later, the correction was retweeted 15 the and he didnt delete original tweet. This is malpractice in the service of an ayen da. This reminds me of the russia collusion hoax that we saw play out over the last few years. Report breathlessly, an alarming report. By the time it falls apart and has been disproven everyone has moved to the next outrage. Let me just say that during that time, we had the president of the society of Critical Care medicine at fema working with us to understand specifically what the ventilator needs was. My group put out guidance on how to dually ventilate people along with the American Society of anesthesiology who had been working on transition of anesthesia machines. We were involved, every single ventilator decision when to the u. C. G. To weigh the needs and as far as we know not a Single Person in this country was denied ventilation and now because of the d. P. A. Use well have over 50,000 ventilators in he stockpile by next week. Mrs. Walorski how many ventilators did new york end up receiving . Maam, i do not have the actual specific number but i know there was, they first asked for tens of thousands, which i think that number might have been 30,000 or 40,000. But new york ended up getting maybe about 10,000 ventilators. I will need to provide the committee with actual specific numbers if i could. The initial thought was a lot but they got less than that. Mrs. Walorski and you created a control to monitor medical supplies and demand. Thats the stat thousands of control power on the role of the federal government and the Strategic National stockpile in obtaining and distributing medical supplies to the state . Weve got businesses information from essentially 90plus percent of the Health Medical supply chain. I can see it coming in from manufacturing whether it be u. S. Or overseas, being in warehouses an distributed down to First Responders, Nursing Homes, hospitals. Were also in the process of building that out, getting actual wired connections to the 6,800plus hospitals in the United States. On hand daily information along with anything state warehouses so youll have a holistic approach and understanding of the supply chain from states, hospitals, National Stockpile and from the commercial side. Mrs. Walorski i want to say when President Trump enacted the defense production act the state of indiana got on board immediately and we are Still Producing domestically supplied p. P. E. Today. Thank you for your service, gentlemen, i yield back, mr. Chairman. Mr. Clyburn thank you for yielding back. The chair recognizes mr. Foster. Mr. Foster thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you to our witnesses for their service. I would like to first act unanimous consent to enter into the record a letter from the Dupage County health department, a county in my district, outlining their experience attempting to get adequate p. P. E. And testing supplies and to summarize, they attest the lack of appropriate perm protective equipment and medical testing smies has seriously hampered the ability to control he spread of sarscov2. I pursuant to committee rules, this is being transmitted electronically and we have copies here for anyone. Masks. 1. 6 of n95 on and on. As they say, this has caused many additional cases and hampered their spread. So i just its not entirely good news story here. It strikes me that the biggest thing that youre facing here is that weve seen a resumption in the exponential growth of covid cases. Were seeing nationwide doubling time about two weeks. Were seeing hot spots in seat belt states. Were seeing several days doubling time. So my question, i guess, admiral poll you, how many polowczyk, more doublings can you face before the supply chain breaks. Im not a medical professional. But the i get that, again, states in my conversations, my understanding and my work with every state, every regional manager, and our large hospital systems, most, 70somethingodd, going on 75 , have at least 30 to 60 days of supplies on hand. Mr. Foster what if the demand doubles and doubles and doubles again. It seems like in less than 30 days well have a huge crisis unless we start seeing real selfcontrol on this. This also, admiral, you can see, youve done a great job on increasing Testing Capacity but its lynn ab. Linearly, a little less than linearly at some times, increase the test capacity. This cant keep up with exponential growth. Do you see any way to keep up with demand that doubles and doubles and doubles again . Yes, thank you, congressman. So my job is to make as many tests available as possible. As quickly as possible. Get them to the right people. There are strategies, again, were a little bit linear but were going to get a little more exponential as supply chains kick in for some of the point of care tasks. There are different opportunities about pooling of tests particularly with surveillance. The pooling breaks if you have a high enough fraction of people infected where every single pool has multiple positive samples in it. Thats not the case in most places. That would be used in low prevalence surveillance. Mr. Foster ok. So lets see, id like to move to Antibody Testing for a moment here. The family sars coronavirus package, congress directed covid19 testing to be done at no cost to the paint. We worked hard with our staff, got language to make sure that was true. Now ive been hearing in my state that h. H. S. Is walking this back in terms of reimbursements. Are you willing to commit that h. S. Will continue to do the reimbursements necessary to make sure this Antibody Testing will take place at no cost to the patient. Im not trying to avoid this. I cannot commit on the reimbursement side. But i can tell you it is our intention, the secretarys intention that diagnostic testing, testing that is done in the context of screening, and the antibody test, is at no charge to individuals and we want to work to that mr. Foster if you find out thats not true. I havent heard that being an issue but ill investigate that and take it. Mr. Foster its important especially in light of the president s statements he wants to slow down testing. One technique he may be using is to charge people money for something that should be free. And slowing down testing is not what we need right now. Thank you. My time is up, i yield back. R. Clyburn thank you. I want to thank our witnesses for being here today and for their lives of service to this great country. Its true were seeing an increase in positive covid19 cases. The United States is testing more people than any other country, over 35 million, with over 607,000 on june 25 alone. The Trump Administration has successfully procured millions of p. P. E. Including thru defense production act as you mentioned today. As of june 26, efforts on the part of fema, h. H. S. Have led to the delivery of 167. 1 million n95 respirators. 682. 5 million surgical masks. Face shields. 292. 2 million surgical gowns and cover yawls and 17. 1 billion gloves. As far as ventilators go the administration is assured that we have more than enough. So much so that some states are returning ventilators to the Strategic National stockpile. Washington state returned 400. California 500. Instead of working with the president to help americans, my colleagues across the aisle would rather politicize this Public Health crisis. In one sentence the majoritys leadership said, quote, were not here to place blame, end quote. The next sentence they bashed the president suggesting his culpability in the deaths of americans. That happened just today. We cant have a true assessment of our response because this hyperpolarized environment makes every single action a political failure. Weve got to get past this in our country if were to come through this. Additionally President Trump has had an all hands on deck mentality to develop the covid19 vaccine. Historically it takes an average of 10 to 15 years to develop a vaccine. Its a multistep process that takes decades. Dr. Fauci stated we should have a couple hundred million doses of covid19 vaccine by the beginning of 2021. This is an incredible feat. It took 42 years to develop a vaccine for chickenpox. 43 for ebola. 47 for a polio vaccine. How are we moving so fast that Public Health expert thinks we can have a vaccine in 12 months . For one were conducting multiple phases and tests simultaneously rather than one at a time which greatly increases the speed of development but also increases the manpower and expense. Thankfully President Trump devoted the full resource of the federal government to this crucial endover. Additionally the wall street journal noted a combination of other improvements such as enhancement of sequencing and unprecedented government support. Let me emphasize that last point again. The journal notice and i quote, unprecedented government support, end quote as primary cause of the breakneck speed of development of the vaccine. While some prefer to sit on the sidelines and attack the administration, President Trump has been boldly acting to help find a cure. He launched operation warp speed aimed at developing a vaccine by the end of the year. He selected five Coronavirus Vaccine candidates as finalists, pledged future covid vaccines will be free for vulnerable americans, prodded official tots speed up development and streamline f. D. A. Apraufl process and requirements. This administrations response has been uns predened. The committee, this committee, on the other hand, mr. Chairman, we still havent held a single hearing on briefing on chinas responsibility for covid19. Not one. According to Columbia University, not necessarily a bastion of conservatism, i might add, and reported by abc news, certainly not a republican news organization, had china notified america just one week sooner, Columbia University predicts 60. 1 of americans casualties could have been avoided. Meaning chinas deception resulted in 60 of our casualties. Have we spent 60 of our time looking into chinas actions . Are we the task force designed to look into the cause of american deaths due to covid . Have we on this committee spent 50 of our time looking into choo in as failure and deception . Theyre 60 of our casualties. According to Columbia University. We havent spent a single minute investigating what the scientists at Columbia University said potentially killed 60 of our dead. That is a failure of this committee. Yet all the other side wans to do is point the finger at President Trump. Thats sad. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I yield. Mr. Clyburn i thank the gentleman for yielding back. The chair now recognizes mr. Raskin. Mr. Raskin mr. Chairman, thank you. Witnesses, thank you for your service to our country. Mr. Chairman, i continue to be impressed by the bottomless vezzvoir reservoir of outrage summoned up by the president s defenders who are complaining over absolute nonsense like imaginary hoaxes, imaginary constitutional offenses and of course the imaginary repressive of the president s quack miracle cures which have proven to be a danger to our people. But lets return back to reality. Lets come back to america. Where our people are suffering. According to the New York Times, new cases are up 80 in the last two weeks. Were seeing a startling rise in coronavirus in many of our southern and western states including florida, texas, arkansas, alabama, arizona, oklahoma, and many others. 35 states where the virus is now on the rise. Yesterday, the United States shattered all records with new cases reported in a single day reaching nearly 50,000. There were more than 800,000 new cases reported in june alone. Dr. Fauci said were on course to hit 100,000 cases per day. That is terrifying. Now, since the pandemic began, the Trump Administration has insisted upon having no plan. Its up to the state, this helterskelter rag tag operation. The Trump Administration made only limited and sporadic use of the defense production act and mostly relied on the private sector to procure supplies often from china and other foreign suppliers and the same foreign suppliers to be distributing the supplies. And we know President Trump, contrary to those who try to distance him from china, we know President Trump praised the performance of the Chinese Government and president xi 37 different times in january, february, march and april. Praising general xis good, very good, great performance, his relationship with them. The eextraordinary deals they are working together. Republicans want to go down that road instead of working to address the needs of people, im happy to do it. It will lead to total disgrace and embarrassment of their arguments and their attempts to blame china for this whole situation. China is covered if china covered up at the beginning which i think it did, President Trump covered up for china in the process, thats the relationship. I rear admiral polowczyk, want to ask about demand and supply. You said that the demand for masks may be inflated because some industries think they need them when they dont actually need them. I want to make sure i heard you right there i think you invoked Janitorial Services as one of those. Do janitors an custodial crews like the ones that are going to clean the house Office Billing this evening, do they not need masks . There are several standards of masks, so i was referring to medical grade. Those would be covered under niosh. Theyre a different standard of masks. Im not saying they dont need a mask. Im just saying there are different standards of masks. Mr. Raskin ok, let me go to a question of supply then. Goes to the question i think ms. Waters was asking you. You said youre not certain about what the nationwide supply of p. P. E. s is and that might be understated because you dont know how much p. P. E. And how many masks the states are actually in possession of. Can you just explain why you dont have that figure, why you dont know that . And will we ever come to a place where we actually have a coordinated National Strategy to get americans the equipment that they need . Sir there is a coordinated National Strategy. So the states are working with me to give them give me their warehouse information data. As we work through this. If youd heard any of my other answers, the supply chain information, you cant run a supply chain without information, without data. So the first thing i did was brought in all the Business Systems for 90 of the Health Care Supply chain. O ive aggregated that information from d. O. D. And i can see so anything in the state warehouse, entering the hospital information, health and Human Services and fema will have the entire ecosystem of understanding supply and demand across the nation. Mr. Raskin ok and finally given the explosive demand for p. P. E. Right now, because of the pandemic out of control, should we not be using the defense production act more comprehensively and expansively right now to increase the supply or the crisis thats coming . There are multiple areas under development to expand production, whether it be pharmaceuticals, whether it be more cloth and nonmolding fabric for surgical masks, whether it be other nitrile gloves, etc. All those take time and Investment Decision criteria. Mr. Fahy may be able to answer the question. Can i hear that answer and then ill yield back. We think were pretty good on the medical mask perspective but in every other category the process goes that we have extensive process where we go out and ask industry what theyre willing to do to make sure they understand our requirement and for the other pieces of the equipment, weve done it a lot on masks, done it on ventilators. The other thing we dont mention a lot, a lot of times the supply chain is bottlenecked, as a subcontractor. Were looking at the subcontractors. We have efforts in every kind of effort from a p. P. E. And medical equipment to expanding domestic apacity here in the u. S. Mr. Clyburn the gentlemans time has expired. Thank you so much for coming here. Admiral, i want to start with you. Do you assess that we have successfully flattened the curve in the United States . Let me give you two tenses, we did flatten the curve during the time to flatten the curve because we expected a lot more cases. Right now the case numbers are going up. So we flattened the curve right now . We are not flattening the curve right now. It is going up. Do you think were headed in the right direction . Right now, and i try to nuance this a little bit, in many counties we are, in many states we are. Four states are accounting for about 50 of our new cases and theyre very concerning to us. With those states with increased cases, i often hear my colleagues say this, the increase in the positive cases is due to increased testing. In your professional and expert assessment, does that account for the increase that were seeing in those states . There is no question that the more testing you get the more youll uncover but we do believe that its a real increase in cases because the percent positivities are going up. So this is real increases in cases. Mr. Kim you said today that you think we should be looking at the guidelines of the opening up america. I was looking it up here. It said satisfied before proceeding to phase comeback, it said downward tra yect injury of cases in a 14day period or downward tra yect injury of positive tests as a percent of total tests in a 14day period. Do you know how many states are fulfilling this right now . Right now theres a lot of musme in the system. Some have drawn back certain activities and some have kept going. I do want to make a statement if youll let me is that what were really seeing, we are seeing States Reopen quickly that have had no cases. Weve seen cases not reopen and have a lot of cases. We do believe that current outbreak is primarily due to under 35s with a lot of gatherings, not appropriate protection like masks, yes its important to reopen and we believe in the guidelines but i think the weight of the evidence is guidelines are not you know the personal responsibility is a key right now. Mr. Kim sure, absolutely. Were seeing this increase in positive cases as you were talking about, exceeding what we see in terms of our increase in testing. We all know that we want to continue to have more Testing Available you said so. So in your written testimony theres a company producing more than 10 Million Laboratory testing extractions and p. C. R. Kits, enabling states to complete millions of additional tests. But the contract expires in five days. I want to ask, can you commit that there will not be a reduction in Testing Capacity . Theres not going to be a reduction in Testing Capacity. So the contract youre talking about, we had initially acquired, we acquired very few Laboratory Reagent bus we did acquire that because the states were not accustomed to using more of them, this one company and what were seeing right now is, we want those we want we think the market is stable enough, youve got 10. 25 billion into the states that the states will buy that from that specific company. But we did because the states, when i say the states, its laboratories in the states, with were not as accustomed to using this this type of test with this type of machine that we did sort of see the seed that by buying federally and distributing it. Mr. Kim two questions left. My home state of new jersey was hit particularly hard by the virus. In march and april we were struggling, very few tests available. We tried to seek additional h. H. S. Backed, femabacked federally backed test sites. We had two in new jersey. Tried to get more. We were told that request was denied and that none no more federal test sites would be stood up in our country in the beginning of april. I want to learn from you who made that decision . Can you tell me how that decision was made not to have any more federally backed test sites . I think thats not true because we started 41 completely separately run federally run site bus the plan had always been to transition those. We have 624 federally sponsored Retail Pharmacy sites now because 41 drive throughs run mr. Kim i get that but that was not until may that those were stood up. I mean mr. Kim we can take for the record and you can get back to me with the timeline that would be helpful. Just one last question here. I want to clarify your position regarding the World Health Organization since you mentioned this earlier today. You said reforms are needed. We get that. You also mentioned that you were confirmed by the senate to with the u. S. Representative on the executive board of the World Health Organization. I want to ask you, was it your recommendation that the United States terminate rainshower relationship with the w. H. O. In the middle of a pandemic . I was not asked for a recommendation. Mr. Kim when President Trump made that decision later in the month after you were sworn in as the u. S. Representative to the executive board of the w. H. O. , he did not seek your advice or your consideration before he made that decision . Is that what youre saying . I was not provided a recommendation to anyone, correct. Mr. Kim thank you. Mr. Chairman, thank you. Mr. Clyburn thank you very much. Let me thank all the witnesses for their appearances here today. And i have always opted to yield to the Ranking Member for any closing comments and in his absence i will yield to mr. Jordan. Mr. Jordan thank you, mr. Chairman. I would just point out that, you know, the last comments from the majority side that the World Health Organization lied to us. So i think the president took a pretty commonsense position, he said we dont have to pay organizations to lie to. Theyll probably do it for free. But i want to thank our witnesses for being here today. Even though you had to have one member of the minority say that ou were missing in action. I find that amaze, officer in the United States navy mizing in action. I find it amazing theyd say that you had yet give more credence to the New York Times afrl than an admiral in the United States navy. But we on the Minority Side appreciate your service to our country and your service in this critical time. We also appreciate what the attorney general of the United States said two months ago. When he said the constitution is not suspended during a crisis. Amen to that. Unfortunately, as we talked about over the last couple of hour, i dont know that certain mayors and certain governors appreciate that fact. At least they have not, at a minimum they have not appreciated that fact in a consistent fashion. Set of e different rules for protests. I understand peaceful protests is fundamental to the fist amendment and [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2020] mental to the american way of life, i support it and engaged in it. Theres a big difference between people protesting and some of the things we have seen in our great country, in our cities over the last several weeks. Peaceful protest is important but so is your ability to practice your faith and so is your ability to engage in your livelihood and operate your business. So is your ability to attend a loved ones funeral. So we i think i would appreciate a little more consistent application of the constitution in our and our First Amendment liberties by some of the democrat mayors around the country. What wed also appreciate mr. Chairman and have raised this issue several time, the gentleman from tennessee brought it up, you talk about this committee looking forward. Dealing with this tough time an this crisis that were in. But sometimes to properly handle and address things and look forward you need to understand what happened. Two big things that have happened. We talk about if china told us earlier lots more people would be alive today in our country and around the world. For some reason the majority doesnt want to look at that fundamental issue. And just as importantly, decisions made by certain governors, 40 of the deaths in this country happened in Nursing Homes. Decisions made by governors in five states that were in hindsight frankly, not even hindsight, were just ridiculous wrong decisions cost the lives of so many thousands, thousands of our fellow citizens. As the Ranking Member said numerous times, wed like to get this information. Particularly from the governor of new york on this decision to put covidpositive people back into Nursing Homes for 46 straight days. And why the majority wont help us get that information for the life of me i cannot figure out. Thats where we need to go. We do need to understand some things that happened in the past so we can be forwardlooking and help our country deal with this issue. With that, mr. Chairman, i ould yield back. I thank the gentleman and i thank all of the Witnesses Today for their participation and the amendments of the subcommittee. Mr. Clyburn i want to, without objection, i would like to enter mr. Fosters request for unanimous consent for the letter to be inserted into the be rd and im ordering that done. I would also like to enter into the record full letters this committee has received in recent days from organizations representing Health Care Institutions and workers. The american medical association, the American College of Emergency Physicians , National Nurses united and the American Association of medical colleges. Each of these groups has written to emphasize that Health Care Workers around the country are still experiencing shortages of critical supplies, including masks. I ask unanimous consent that these letters be entered into the official hearing record. And its so ordered. In closing, i want to thank the witnesses and my colleagues on this select subcommittee. Todays hearing made clear that as Coronavirus Infections and hospitalizations spiked around the country, communities are facing alarming shortages of personal protective equipment and testing supplies. We need urgent action from the federal government to address these shortages now. Before more people are exposed and the virus spins further out of control. There are clear and tangible steps the federal government can take. First, we need a clear chain of command so the federal government can make efficient use of its vast resources and career professionals to identify the need and procure and distribute supplies. Second, the Administration Needs to adhere to rigorous contracting practices, including open competition to ake sure it is not feeding inexperienced politically connected suppliers over businesses with a track record of success. Third, the federal government must establish a comprehensive plan to directly procure and distribute critical supplies, rather than continuing to defer to the private sector. I cannot emphasize this enough. Our federal government has the resources, the man power and the Legal Authority under the defense production act to procure the necessary supplies and quickly get them to the communities that need them. Its time we use them. I appreciate the hard work of each of our witnesses and their colleagues at femaa, the department of defense and health and Human Services. Problem gets this fixed, we need to you Keep Congress apprised of your progress. I am therefore calling on fema, h. H. S. And d. O. D. To provide this committee with my weekly updates on the projected supply and demand for p. P. E. And testing supplies. I look forward to continuing to work with each of you to ensure that our government is working to help all americans during this national crisis. With that, this meeting is adjourned. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2020] book tv on cspan2 has top nonfiction books and authors every weekend. Coming up this july 4th weekend, saturday at 11 00 p. M. Eastern, Iowa Republican senator joany ernst talks about her journey from growing up in iowa to being the first female combat veteran in the u. S. Senate. In her memoir daughter of the heartland. Then sunday at noon on in depth, a live twohour conversation with retired admiral james devritus, author of several books including command at sea. And his most recent book, sailing true north. Join the conversation with your phone calls, comments, emails and tweets at 8 30 p. M. Eastern in her memoir dare to fly, Arizona Republican senator Martha Mcsally remarks on her military career as the First Female Fighter Pilot to fly in combat. And at 9 00 p. M. Eastern on afterwords, Pulitzer Prize winning the Washington Post reporter mary jordan on the life and influence of First Lady Melania Trump from her book the art of her deal. Shes interviewed by u. S. A. Today Washington Bureau chief susan paige. Watch book tv on cspan2 this weekend. American history tv on cspan3. Exploring the people and events that tell the american story every weekend. Coming up this weekend, saturday at 10 00 a. M. Eastern, a discussion on the declaration of independence origins, purpose and global significance during and after the American Revolution. With university of maryland history professor richard bell. On sunday, at 4 00 p. M. Eastern, on real america, the 1970 film fresh colors. Details czech political refugees first job upon arriving in the United States. Hired by the u. S. Information agency to create a film about the american flag. Using his own narration, animation and archival footage. And at 6 00 p. M. On american artifacts, a tour of the museum of the American Revolution with president and c. E. O. Michael quin, discussing the museums history, design and what he calls the museums crowned jewel. George washingtons camp tent. Exploring the american story. Watch American History tv this eekend on cspan3. This is a crisis. People are losing their lives. With Police Reform taking center stage in congress, watch our live unfiltered coverage of the latest developments. Plus, the governments response to the coronavirus pandemic. We were going down some 30,000 to 20,000 and now we stayed flat and now were going up. And briefings from the white house on foreign affairs. Congress on health care. Insight from former administration officials. I do think theres a line one should not cross where governmental power is used essentially exclusively for personal benefit. We will stand proud and we will stand tall. And the latest from the campaign 2020 trail. Join in the conversation every day on our live callin program, washington journal. And if you missed any of our live coverage, watch any time ondemand at cspan. Org or listen on the go with the free cspan radio app. President trump held a News Conference with reporters at the white house earlier today. He reacted to the latest jobs report which showed the u. S. Economy added 4. 8 million jobs while the Unemployment Rate fell to 11. 1 in june. The president also addressed the administrations response to the recent surge in covid19 cases. He was joined by treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House National Economic Council director, larry kudlow, who answered questions on the economy and additional Coronavirus Relief legislation

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