Transcripts For CSPAN2 House Coronavirus Select Subcommittee Hearing On National Stockpile 20240712

Today the select subcommittee some members will appear in person and others will appear remotely. Members are appearing in person and let me first remind everyone pursuant to the latest guidance from all individuals must wear a Face Covering. We will allow you to remove them as you see i am getting to speak. I know a bit about how your classes get folded up and then you dont see where you are going. Members are not wearing a Face Covering are not permitted to remain in the room and will not be recognized to speak. So when you are not speaking, we expect for you to have a a face mask or we will not recognize you. You will be able to see members appearing remotely on the monitors in front of you. Youll see the members appearing at once a. On the other monitor you will see each person speaking during the hearing when theyy are speaking including members appearing remotely. For those members appearing remotely you canac also see each person speaking duringg the hearing whether they are in personon or remote if you have y questions about this, please contact the Committee Staff immediatelyly. I would also remind everyone that houseev procedures apply. To those who are remote it should be visceral on your visin when you are an active speaker. For members appearing remotely, a few other reminders that house rules require so please have your camera is turned on at all times not just when you are speaking. Members who are not recognized should remain in the route to minimize background noise and feedback. Members will be recognized in orderio for questions. If you are remote and want to be recognized outside of the regular order, you may identify that in several ways. You may use the function to set up a request or an email to the majority staff or un mute to seek recognition. They do not want people talking over each other, so my preference is that members use the chat function or email to orfacilitate their recognition. We will begin the hearing in just a moment when they tell me thetold methey are ready to bege lifestream. The [inaudible conversations] today this committee will ask several simple questions. More than five months into the coronavirus outbreak, 130,000 americans have died. Why is the country still facing critical shortages on personal protective equipment and testing supplies that they need to fight this virus . They cannot get a 60 3cent mask h everyone who needs one. This committee has stories of shortages and critical supplies directly for frontline workers. Doctors and nurses that are forced to reuse the masks designed to be worn just once. Some resorted to wearing garbage bags to protect themselves because the hospitals didnt have enough downs. 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 pair of gloves to stay safe. And we heard from nursing home workers and janitorsan that fead a day might be the next to die. Now some would have us believe that these are a thing of the past. They rattle off statistics about the number of supplies delivered, the number of dollars spent and the number of flights to the socalled air bridge. Here are the facts. The white house own internal data just released a few weeks ago shows we are still facing shortages of tens of millions of and 95 masks and gowns and it may persist for mom. Healthcare providers have confirmed this. June 12 it was reported, and i quote, like all healthcare providers, we continue to experience shortages of ppe including the masks. They are getting worse. As the coronavirus skyrockets across the country. Serious shortages have been reported in texas and florida and the government of washington has identified, and i quote, widespread shortages in that state. As the infections rise, testing labs around the country are also facing a surge a in demand. Many have issued warnings that they are running short of supplies which could cripple the nations ability to conduct tests and slow the spread of the virus. I am alarmed nearly half a year into the crisis, the Administration Still hasnt adequately addressed the supply shortages. The federal response has been halted by at least three critical errors. First, the administration lacks a chain of command rather than rely on career professionals by single officials the president has appointed officials can agencies and task forces and handled his soninlaw to handle this problem. The result has been confusion, delay and a waste of resources. Second, the agencies to favor Certain Companies and the administration has often relied on inexperienced politically connect to contractors. Rewarded a contract to provide masks to the navajo nation. The company had reportedly delivered the wrong type of masks. Third, rather than take responsibility for the purchases and the distributing supplies andsu the act and other authorities, the Trump Administration has deferred to the private sector. This has forced states, cities and individual hospitals to compete for scarce resources driving up prices. Today, chairwoman maloney transferred to the subcommittee the delay of just how ineffective this is including the administrations Signature Program project. The memo shows the administration refused to take responsibility for determining which recipients would receive ppe or how much they could be charged. They also show medical supply companies pleaded with the administration to provide more guidance and to take a more active role in procurement. According to one company, and i quote, politics has gotten in the way of. Thank you for sharing in the oversight committees work and for entrusting the subcommittee to carry it forward. I can assure you that we intend to get to the bottom of this. As i said before, the purpose of the committees oversight is not to cast blame but to make improvements to ensure future success. So, today our goal is to better understand why the administrationta has failed to meet the needs for ppe and testing supplies and to seek a commitment from the witnesses to take concrete steps to finally address these shortages. I will now yield to the Ranking Member for his opening statement. Thank you mr. Chairman. And i also want to thank the witnesses who are going to be testifying today. America has been through a a lot these past few months. We have seen the best in people from frontline workers have risked their own lives to help the sick, to thes doctors and nurses who have struggled as well and continue to show up. Researchers who work tirelessly to find a cure. But i dont think enough credit has been even to the teams the three of you represent and the work youve done to help america responds to this crisis. We faced a logistical challenge. The Global Pandemic that hit the shores while china was supporting medical supplies and apply them to the rest of the world. I have some experience with these kind of challenges when we went throughhe Hurricane Katrina and while Hurricane Katrina hit a limited area, this pandemic hit this entire country and thec entire world all at the same time. Soon as you can imagine, the incredible challengeal that bris with it when you are not just dealing with an isolated crisis, but you are dealing with a Global Crisis and how to respond fast. I the work that youve done to ramp up production and distribution of ppe as well as testing the equipment that is needed and getting the facilities up and running liebowitz to the men and women a tremendous debt of gratitude and please let them know how much the country appreciate the work that they did in these trying times. Mr. Chairman, as america gets ready to celebrate on Independence Day on the fourth of july, we also combined an important moment in the coronavirus pandemic. We have learned a lot in those lessons and have saved lives. As you know, my home state of louisiana and specifically the city of new orleans got hit early icould hitearlier this pa. New orleans faced some of the hospital scares. The reason economies were shut down most of whats in the curve and make sure the Hospital Systems are not overwhelmed. In the darkest days when there was a concern about the shortage of potential leakers, i want to personally thank the admiral because i remember speaking with you specifically as well as with the director about the concerns we were facing. We worked together and the Administration Responded and you all delivered as needed until leakers to us. I know you did the same for new york and other regions that were concerned that they would hit the shortage. We never did hit that thanks to your good work. I are never that phone call was on a day. You were there and you deliver delivered. I appreciate what you did and whats your team did to respond so quickly so please convey that. It truly helped the state and the city to be able to respond. I just want to poin wanted to pt so that people know there was so much done behind the scenes. Doctors learned how to treat patients without necessarily putting them on ventilators. Doctors are not innovating as aggressively as they used to. These high flow oxygen instead because theyve learned innovation can actually do damage to the lungs. Theyve learned how to keep healthcare workers safe with other treatments. Whilstst some still need ventilators, the patients are now seeking better outcomes. They use Blood Centers and autopsies show patients were getting massive blood clots in their lungs. Steroids are showing tremendous progress. Even as we see a spike in cases in the country, the death rate has actually dropped. Weve also learned more about who is vulnerable and how we can better protect those populations. For example, we know that the policy of prohibiting positive patients from returning to Nursing Homes saved lives in those 45 states where the governors followed the guidelines we saw dramatically lower death rates among seniors in Nursing Homes and we also know policies that mandated the patient be returned to the Nursing Homes even if they were not capable of properly taking care of them it turned out to be a death sentence for many seniors. We still havent gotten the answers we deserve to get so we can learn more about that and i want to again ask the majority of weekends together not just some of us but all of us to ask those that decided to go against the guidelines if they would share those answers with us and the rest of the country and most importantly with the families of the victims that are still demanding answers and we will continue to press for those. The lessons we need to keep learning are underscored by the spike in cases in particular areas of the country. The virus continues to spread and its not an even spread in fact cases are dropping in many areas of the country. Weve learned that tends to spike in concentrated areas and to do so rapidly. What i would say to the young people of america is you have homeschooling have to be a remotely. N maybe not able to start your new career as they were expected, but as you are experiencing more freedom that comes from the responsibility. We are seeing that spike primarily affecting young people and we are learning a lot about getting together in very crowded areas have actually expediting the spread so we urge young people to avoid the spread and learn from the things we are learning. You dont want to be sharing it with your parents and grandparents and putting people at risk. All americans should follow the guidelines that continue to get updated. Maintain their recommended socialal distancing. We know how important it still is. We all need to do our part in stopping the spread. We must also recognize how much better prepared we are today. We are currently conducting over 500,000 tests and the they havea chart right back here that shows the dramatic increase this country has done responding to the shortage of tests that we saw backsh in march where they were almost nonexistent. We saw the president expedite drew operation warp speed to increase testing. Today we are conducting over 600,000 tests a day and we still need to keep growing this number but we can see the dramatic increase to see how the administration has continued to respond. Nobodys letting their foot off the gas but its important to notice how weve come together even with china lying to the world its how weve picked up the pace and have done more on our own. While some states have experienced spikes that we need to watch closely, all americans need to know the following. One, theres not a single state in the country that has reached hospital capacity. Thatat was the main barometer tt states use to close their economy that continue to be the most important to watch as we safely reopen the economy. Number two, the doctors have a better understanding of how to treat patients and we see that from less use of the ventilators and the therapies showing great promise. Number three we know how to protect the most vulnerable populations and we hope as most governors all over the guidelines and safe thousands there to get the government out of the way it is shocking that as we are pushing every government, private sector, all people to do more to try to find a cure and to slow the spread that the Majority Party would bring the bill to the floor this week that according to thee council of economic advisers would actually make it hard as we are pushing all of the government to find a cure. Bill that was offered on the floor of the house this week which many of us oppose what actually according to them bring 100 fewer drugs to market its better understood and needs to continue to be followed so as america continues to move forward hopefully that schools will start reopening and continue how to better protect ourselves as we live with this disease and cant ru find the disease and challenged. With that i will yield back. I think the Ranking Member for the statement. We would like to introduce the witnesses. Today the subcommittee welcomes the admiral, the leader from the supplychain stabilizationfe tak force from the joint chiefs of staff. He also work with the assistant secretary for health at the department. And we are pleased to have with us i want to thank all the witnesses for being here today and i would like them to please stand for the swearingin. Please raise your right hand. Do you s swear or affirm the testimony you are about to get is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you god . You may be seated. Let the record show the witnesses answered in the affirmative. Your statements will be made a part of the record. Admiral, you are recognized for five minutes for your opening statement. And the vice director of the joint staff. Thank you for the opportunity to discuss the federal response to the pandemic and strategies for future planning. Let me start by offering my condolences to the families and friends that have lost loved to this pandemic. On a personal note with me share that this is close to home as it did for Many Americans and members of the committee. I have two family members working on the whole scare front lines. My sister is a nurse in westchester and my niece in rhode island. For the daily communicationthros im very cognizant of the need of Health Care Workers. In march i was asked to separate the management of the supply to combat the pandemic. It was clear demand for the thee medical supplies couldnt be met domestically as usbased manufacturing was limited. Upon arrival from the pentagon i realized the Strategic National stockpile couldnt address the nations requirements. As the bolt of the stockpile was shifted to state leaving essentially no direct federal resources. The goal since the beginning has been to provide medical supplies to where it is needed and then it is needed. We made a decision to leverage the strength of the government and private sector for the whole america approach unlike the disaster the pandemic was different. It didnt damage the strength of the medical supply chain. Supplychain. The supplychain businesses and operational metrics are working and insidious likely have experience. The supplychain and the network delivered tosp every hospital, nursing home, First Responder in the country was available to be leveraged in the public and private partnership however the domestic consumption of the array of supplies was far greater than usual and led to the need to r expedite shipments from overseas. The what the shortage of ppe the acceleration was made because they couldnt make the shipment for the resources. The but is designed to provide medical support. It is about speed fo manufacturg sources to the point of care. It may not be accurate and passed the State Government warehouse and other municipalities and finally the Health Care Workers on the front line. They provided speed from overseas resources and limited the amount in the distribution fast with gloves, masks and respirators and essentially a month later the project air bridge delivered nearly 800,000 respirators, 825 billion surgical masks to a Public Hospitals first and then private hospitals and Nursing Homes. The federal was just about to manage these priority is as they directed this applies to the hotspots in new york, new jersey, chicago, new orleans, detroit. This was the balance across b te country but also providing supplies to those thatho did not have these outbreaks we were managing the shortages nationwide. Using the decisions it was the right quantities of the medical supplies to the. In the point of care in any county across the country and the task force unprecedented visibility into the supplies and the speed of delivery. They entered into the legal agreements with the commercial supplychain and these agreements allow for the aggregation and use of businesses to manage the democratic response. These agreements limit the sharing of the Business Information and also required theer commercial market to prove peace prices and provide the government with data on where the material is provided. Looking ahead we are preparing america to be ready to increase reserves and the domestic capacity. In other tools we are working with industry to produce the supplies for pharmaceuticals. This is a complex task to force the companies to make medical supplies. Each industry takes the research and planning into this is being speed. We are using many with high potential for more actions. We have more than before the pandemic. Before, there was less than 18 million are going after 300 million. Thank you for the opportunity to testify. I look forward to answering any questions that you may have a. I would lead the coordination of the testing efforts within the department of health and Human Services. And to be clear although im assuming some of myy traditional roles as the assistant secretary, i am maintaining my role of coordinating testing including now to assure innovation is immediately translatedar into practice. We are concerned about the recent data from several states indicating the rising infections and now the uptick in hospitalizations and deaths. Even as other states and the great majority of the counties are maintaining a low infection burden knowing that the current outbreak is driven by younger adults who are likely asymptomatic and the fact we are in a much better position today in terms of the supplies, treatment and testing. We cant reverse the strength trends if we work together. First we must take personal responsibility and be disciplined about our own personal behavior. In the communities of highest concern coordination with state and local officials to date the nation has performedth over 35 million tests now averaging over 550,000 tests per day. Pulmonary data indicates that they far surpassed the testing goals and without major technical advances i estimate the nation would havehe the capacity to perform 40 to 50 million per month by fall but with emerging techniques like the polling of samples combined with the point of care technologies, that number could easily be 80 million available t per month if theyr are needed. To get to this point that we have such a rich testing ecosystem, we addressed the csequential challenges and implement the approach to meet the testing goals at each stage of the pandemic of specially now and during the reopening when its at its greatest. In march they developed and implemented 41 communitybased drives through testing sites and locations prioritized by the cdc and in collaboration with state and local partners. Theyve tested nearly 318,000 highrisk individuals and served as prototypes that have been duplicated multifold. Next we leverage the pharmacies to further expand community testing. This federal program is now providing testing at 624 locations and 48 states i and te district. 17 of which are in communities with moderate to high vulnerability. This program has just over 820,000 individuals. Federally qualified server over 29 Million People across the nation. They provide care to one in five roof those uninsured. One in five rural americans, one in three in poverty and 1. 3 million homeless again to assure that we reach the most vulnerable among us, 94 now offer testing. To further site the communities the office of the assistant secretary, my office of Minority Health announced the initiative to create, develop and implement a Strategic Network of National States territorial organizations to deliver the related information to the communities hardest hit by the pandemic. I would like to close by recognizing my fellow officers and the United States for Political Service commissioned corps, the Uniformed Service that i leave. 4,536 officers have deployed to directly support the Pandemic Response exemplifying the care and compassionn that are sold fr those of us that have suffered during this pandemic. I think these officers and their families and on their behalf i want to than to think over thann congress for supporting our Training Needs and establishment of the core to supplement the ranks during the inevitable future emergencies. Thank you for the opportunity to provide these remarks. Thank you very much. Assistant secretary. Chairman cleburne, ranking rg member scalise and distinguished members of the committee thank you for the t opportunity to testify on matters related to the department of defense rolled in procuring and distributed personal protective equipment, medical equipment, testing supplies during the coronavirus. While covid19 has had an unprecedented impact, the secretary has led the department of defense and contributing to theco administrations whole of government response. Today i will describe key elements of how the departments acquisition enterprise has utilized existing authorities in support of the federal agencies. This includes our work ensuring anur adequate supply of medical equipment and testing supplies to control the spread of the virus and to protect american lives. The pandemic has highlighted critical shortfalls in the supply chain. March 18 President Trump invoked the defense production act and delegated authority to the secretary of health and Human Services to determine nationwide priorities and applications of the health and medical resources. Avaccordingly weve been supporting hhs to execute the authorities. March 27 president signed the carers act that included languages and resources to mitigate the critical shortfalls and create and expand domestic Industrial Base capabilities. Id like to thank congress for passing the act and with the support youve provided. To ensure the department can leverage the resources and support to the hhs, the undersecretary defense for the acquisition sustainment and joint Acquisition Task force. The team has enabled us to access the dod Acquisition Workforce expertise and authority quickly and effectively. With hhs as evil. Today is replenishing the Strategic National stockpile and also is important to expand domestic Manufacturing Base for certain items. This line ofof effort includes procuring critical medical supplies. Id now like to address more specifically the areas you asked in your invitation letter to medical equipment andnd testing supplies. In the area of ppe, the Logistics Agency has been instrumental in supporting. Theyve executed over 113,000 contract actions obligating over 800 billion, 800 million as of june 22. It includes assignments and interagency agreements valued at 2 million. Efforts provide test kits, ventilators, pharmaceutical drugs and ppe to other government partners including ongoing efforts for nearly 15,000 Nursing Homes with twoweek supply and supply of the 7 million to the century new york city. Weve taken steps to address the overwhelmingly high reliance of the foreign suppliers and in particularly successful on the n95 mask. Over 250 million increased production here in the United States. Investments increase production beginning in july with a total monthly increase of 70,000,095 masks per month by the end of the calendar year and enabling thenabling theu. S. To domesticae projection on medical communities beginning in 2021. Turning to medical equipment the dod has played a significant role providing equipment throughout the country weve helped manage the contracts to todeliver 22,000 ventilators and the Strategic National stockpile. This enabled hhs to meet critical demands during the peak of the pandemic for any resurgence. We focus the support fo focusede longerterm stockpile and ventilators as testing is becoming more to fight against covid19, the community quickly determined we have the global shortage. Once we realized we were running short, we engaged to determine where to increase capacity and late april awarded contracts to expand manufacturing by 20 million per month starting next month. We recently awarded enough to introduce test kits for 2 million tests per month starting in december. We are exploring additional proposals to support expanding tests. Nostrong domestic Industrial Base is critical for the National Security. Rapidly forcing the items when transportation wasnt operating normally is challenging. Weve demonstrated the commitment and willingness to support these requirements and leveraging the expertise to provide immediate and impactful support for the nation. I am proud of the departments responses to the National Emergency and dedicated individuals that have worked with simply on behalf of the American People and i look forward to your questions. Thank you very much. Moving now to the questions and answers im going to recognize myself for five minutes. In june a white house document was released that showed projections of supply and demand for masks and other supplies. The your name is on this document. Are you familiar with it . Yes i am. This document confirms what t the committee has been hearing for weeks that we face serious shortages in equipment including masks and gowns. For example, page four shows the demand for the masks in march, april and may. It also shows we need more than 160 Million Masks in july alone but they will only supply about 130 millionli masks. That leaves a protective shortfall of about 30 Million Masks. The document suggests a by decontaminating and reusing old masks even though the fda, cdc and even the largest mask manufacturer have raised safety concerns about this method, and many have refused to use it. Admiral, how is it possible that within five months intos this crisis come our country is still facing a shortage of 30 million n95 masks . First let me put a little context. What a supplyside doesnt have is a visibility of knowing what states, local municipalities and private institutions have bought, so i do not add into this the hundreds of millions of masks i know the state of california has bought or other states for that fact. I do not try to estimate that into my supply calculations. Second, for context, the demand of ours also present covid19 demand, opening america, the pre covid19 medical and then the worstcase scenario of every worker, janitorial services, anybody that thinks they need a mask but may not need a n95 mask so it is worstcase estimates i did not add into the supplyside all of those unknown factors that i could not know. They indicate it may be conservative and let me quote from it, steadily declining hospitalization rates should reduce daily hospital n95 usage. Thats in the report. However, hospitalization for skyrocketing. Theyve reachedd record highs in my home state of South Carolina and texas and arizona and many other states and i heard last night or early this morning that there is one jurisdiction where there are 101 over capacity for the. Do you agree the surge we are now experiencing is very well increased the demand of ppe . The surge of cases and hospitalizations again the demand considers that weve completely opened up conducting all of the pre medical covid19 so as the states manage their issues and limit elective surgeries or other surgeries it would then be able to go for these items, so yes im cognizant of the increases that the states are reporting and hospitals are reporting more supplies on hand and i will address that as we goo forward, sir. Thank you very much. I see my time is expired. I do have other questions but im going to lead by example and will now yield to the Ranking Member scalise. Thank you mr. Chairman. And i will start with the rear admiral. Theres been a lot of questions raised about the act and we have seen it continue to pop up why hasnt it been used and yet i go back and look at march and april and may. The numbers of examples where President Trump did invoke the protection act to spur things like ventilators are you aware of it has been to move faster in production . The defense production act as was indicated was first given to health and Human Services and then i believe shortly after that it was also used to prevent thed shipping of medical supplis overseas and then rapidlyy followed by the uses for the purchasing and production of into leaders. We subsequently had been to later productiosent aletter prod it multiple times for parts and components for production of ventilators. To die if the supply chains and concerted investments in the material and others to relieve the supplychain issues to make more. Thank you. It just seems kind of strange that you hear some. People sayg it hasnt been used and needs to useed and we have seen multiple examples where that continues to be used. Can you testify you have seen similar uses of the defense production act to help america meet this challenge. Yes sir. I have long experienced this use quite often. Title number one is prioritization and ramping up production. What i would tell you is youve seen that immediately we send our Senior Executive over to lead the task force. The other thing the Administration Challenges with, title vii, which we need the industry to collaborate to work on things and i tell you i think its going to be invaluable to bring a domestic medical ligament through to the United States. I apologize. I appreciate that you have given those examples. I applaud President Trump for invoking the act and using so many other tools that hes had available to meet this challenge to increase the production of the ventilators, masks, gloves cost so many other supplies, but i want to ask you is this, and as if thehas it that a focus ona that needs to be placed doing more work to bring some of the manufacturing back because we saw they were ordering supplies. They were buying them from other countries making them do onto them so that once the rest of the world found out, there was nothing to purchase. Do you think it is in the National Security interest in the United States of america to bring more of the manufacturing of things like ppe back into the country said that we are not reliant on china in the future . Sir, yes. Sir, yes. The Industrial Base Expansion Efforts Going Forward on the linchpin of what we need to do to have a larger stockpile and then write contracts to have the Ready Reserve it is essentially what they are trying to do Going Forward. We could meet that demand even greater. Finally, first, welcome and again admiral, thank you and to the administrator for the help you gethat you give to the statn we need thees help. I did want to ask you a serious question. Weve been doing a lot of investigation into the Nursing Homes. I note for agency has worked on giving guidance all across the country. Most states follow the guidance properly. Some didnt. Have you seen examples where some went against the guidelines and have they found out why they went against the guidelines and did those deviations lead to potential deaths that may be never should have occurred to the thousands in the Nursing Homes whot never should have dd if they would have just followed the federal guidelines that you gave . Thank you for the question. I think i went to the right high school tha but we will let that pass. What you are referring to is something we do need to go back and look at because it is concerning. The cdc was very clear that in order to take care of a nursing home patient who needed the ability to isolate all of the training staff, cleaning etc. If you couldnt do those things, there were policies among the few states that his head it doesnt matter we are going to send them as long as they are stable you have to take them. I wasnt there. I wasnt a political director but it is a concerning practice because of its potentiallyce infectious people right into a place where we know its other residents did you have a 30 to 40 mortality so that is a concerning practice but we certainly need to look at and rich rows back. Before ime move on, i wish to reiterate a. I made it very clear that i if youre not wearing a mask i am not going to recognize you. This isnt anything partisan i just want to read a couple of things here. [inaudible] ive been reading from mccarthy and made it very clear and i want to point out wearing a mask is the best opportunity for us to keep the economy open and keep us talking, keep us safe as we build the words that vaccine. I agree with all of these and i wont bother to read. I would hope that we would do our part so im going to reiterate that we are Wearing Masks because that is what the attending physician has instructed and he has not made it either or. They made it and social distancing, and wearing a mask. With that, i will yield. With the churning yield we talked about this privately as s ll, and i think we have seen today are there any suggestions that if there isntan complaints today its been updated and used all the recent guidelines by the attending physician who did suggest and require masks when in the past they were not mandatory and then there was the addition that the masks the mandatory and i think we are seeing everybody complied with that. [inaudible] to bring a mask into the room and not wear it until we get to g the questioning isnt wearinga mask. I made it clear. If we are not speaking we ought to be wearingng a mask. If we are not speaking we ought to be wearing a mask. We made that very clear. You indicated a response but then this fight we are having you are indicating he really didnt know what the states were doing is that right . Not essentially. I had conversations with all 50 states. Excuse me. You did not include in your calculation what the states may have been doing . Many times they were not forthcoming. Why dont you know . What is the plan . How should you know what the states are doing . Over the last couple weeks i had severalha conversations with every state and all territories. With their Health Officials and Emergency Managers to understand the stockpile and 70 percent of the states have between 30 and 60 and 90 days of supplies for those that dont they at least have 30 days. Do you have a plan by which you absolutely have the information forthcoming to you . When you tell us about your protections we know they are including what the states have. Is there a plan . Yes maam. How does it work . We have several echelons of supply we communicate with the states as we just explained some are working towards 90 or 120 days worth of supply. National stockpile will grow. Reclaiming my time. Is there a report they give to on a regular be on basis every 30 days how does the plan work . The states at this time are not reporting on that. Thats what i understand. They dont have the protections so how do you work with fema . I am the supply Chain Task Force embedded within fema so that task force is part of the administrators effort. So does everyone report to you or do you report to anyone else . The chain of command again i am working at fema as the task force lead. That chain of command leads through a unified command group which the fema administrator then goes to the White House Task force. What role does dared kushner play in this command . He plays no role. What role does he play that you know about . What does he do . What is his role at fema . Is not at fema. Where is he . I believe hes a special advisor to the White House Task force. Is involved in contracting with ppe with any organization or any provider . Not to my knowledge. He may be but you dont know about it . Maam, i would highly doubt that he has any role in acquisition and contracting. Even myself the acquisition and contracting people dont work for me. Who is responsible for contracting with private businesses . The fema administrator owns Contracting Authority along with owning the department of defense Contracting Authority. Does the competition still exists between the fed and the states for ppe . I understand states have on some occasion made contact with International Businesses to get supplies and those on commandeeredbeen by the white house. Do you know anything about that . Is the competition still going eon . I have no knowledge at any time where fema has compensated compensated confiscated anything. I didnt say fema but the white house has fema commandeeredr anything by the states. I have no knowledge. Nobody has presented anything to me that was concrete other thanan conjecture. I will wrap this up by asking who makes the determination what states get wet from the federal supply . That is a fema process i will answer best is my ability for the administrator, but as i said in my oral remarks a resource prior to relation that uses information from cdc and the epidemiologist and the request from the states. And then that takes all of that into account and provides supplies to the the states. Ha the chair now recognizes. Whats more important going to church are protesting . I am a Public Health person im not going to say with more important. Democrats dont think that. They think protesting is more important than going tok church. Governor nordstrom 16 people go to a century the holds 225 they get excited. Nothing happens to thousands and thousands of people a protest not. Wearing a mask or social distancing. Its more important going to a funeral are protesting . We absolutely need to be consistent in the way. Matches parts of it. Im not the constitutional lawyer. You understand your rights the person has a number of rights. That trumps everything else. Mayor diblasio when they have gathered to mourn the rabbi he said the time has morning immediately disperse them you can be arrested but protest in the street. Whats more important engaging in your livelihood or protesting . Again, they are rhetorical questions. We get your point. Public health practice. You may get my t point that democrats dont. Mayor garcetti said he would turn off peoples utilities if anyone tried to reopen their business. Le unbelievable. But yet mayor garcetti, here is what else he said in april, snitches will be rewarded. Its more important rewarding snitches for ratting out there neighbor who goes to an empty r actually having the police stop writers and looters in big groups destroyed National Moment one na monuments and private property. What is more important. When you make a statement that Public Health standards need to be consistently applied when they are inconsistently applied there will be frustration among those. No kidding. Eus we have seen the height of inconsistency from democratic mayors and governors all over but what is more important the president cutting off travel to china or thishe pandemic starting at an early date with joe biden calling that same action xenophobic . Restricting triumph on travel was a critical step for us to slow the invasion of the infected individuals. No kidding. I have not seen any zeno phobia we are trying to make decisions. The democrats saw that when the president made a decision democrats saw that they are defending the who. Its more important we dont give money to an organization and my then continue to support it. What is more important . Those that lied to us atti the start or cutting off money to the who . As us representative to the executive order of the World Health Organization is clear the Organization Needs reform i will work with them to implement those reforms while preserving global health. What is more important than requiring Committee Members to wear a mask when they are 10 feet apart from anyone else or not sending covid positive people back into Nursing Homes which is moreor important quick. That is a Public Health determination its more important not to send covid im on covid positive people. Especially 46 days or even one day. Is it important we have to get the information from those who engage in that behavior like the governor for the state of new york would be helpful if they could give us that information. Information is always the basis for us to understand what happened and had to avoid and the future. I appreciate all the work you are doing common sense approach to all of this versus what we see from democrats we cant let people go to the loved ones funeral but we can join thousands of people that are protesting mayor garcetti can walk out in front of thousands and kneel down without a mask that is fine but if you go to an empty beach you want someone to snitch you out and write you out to the government then you get a reward may be a certificate or a reward i know but i would like some common sense and consistency about the First Amendment and democratic governors around the country i yield back. Let me ask a question is covid19 a hoax. Knows there is not a hoax will it disappear miraculously . We will only gain control of covid19 with Public Health measures and eventually a vaccine. So to social distance is us doing our part. Yes there we want to stress wearing a mask physical distinct hygiene are all critical Public Health components you are correct. Thank you very much. I didnt say it wasnt important to wear a mask i said what is more important. That policy or not sending people with causative back into the nursing home in the admiral was clearance at the second is much more important than the first all of their are important thats why were doing it but the second is more important than the first we would like information the Ranking Member has been asking for weeks with no help from you to get the information that is myyon. N. Point. And the question was in here when you are 10 feet apart. Exactly. I appreciate that. But i reiterate its not a hoax. I didnt say it was. Yes i want to bring it up. The republican say that it is. I just want you to know you will be checked for everything that you say in here. I will stick with the science. Thank you mr. Chairman and all to witnesses to ask district question do you believe the administration has adequate guidance to the private sector how to distribute ppe to the people in the nation that needed the most . These are the agreements with a commercial enterprise with their efforts where the government felt the highest nee need. According to the investigation which they are releasing today the administration completely and utterlyo failed to the guidance on ppe during the first three criticalna months from january all with your march and the told us they were competing for guidance on how to prioritize the distribution of ppe and a host of other critical question questions. But you are missing in action. I dont mean to interrupt but i would like to clarify have only been here since the 1h of march. Love to answer that but from january through march but i was only move from the pentagon on the 19th. So the administration was missing inti action and then to feel that things were getting worse and the request for guidance was increasing week by weekand they told us everyone is asking the same question but it wasnt coming on march 28 the president of thet industry sent a letter with the strategic direction. And then to target ppe supplies so with all due respect these companies told us with the guidance that they needed and i want to move on even more troubling did your agency or anyonee else in the Trump Administration ever have a company to purchase ppe for the Chinese Company. Im Going Forward only a five minutes. And the point of order mr. Chairman . The gentle lady literally just accused a rear admiral of the United States military of being missing in action. Can at least he defend himself that is an absurd claim nobody should make a claim to witness a military Service Member to say he was missing in action. She referred to him by name. That is absurd. Understand im aging i thought she said the administration she said he you made it clear you are not even here but she started he was missing in action. Is a rear admiral of the United States military he does not deserve to be talk to that way. You recognize. I apologize i respect the military. I was type of the administration not being there when the people the country them. I will quickly answer the following question. There has always been a firewall between the individual and the person who is doing the buying so manipulation or pressure of a contracting official to enter into an agreement with any company. Not one but several told us the Trump Administration because one particular Chinese Company that is heavily subsidized by the Chinese Government one company told us so another company told us they decline purchasing the ideas one the id are the companies lying . I had no business with the wide the because it was not proven and i cannot speak but they did not have a proven track record also the two companies that take a lot of risk with a lot of masks. Your time is expired. May i ask for an additional minute . There is way too much reliance. Here in the United States it could be bipartisan and thats im introducing a bill that would quote o the with a Strategic National stockpile to be produced domestically we cannot put ourselves in this position today with critical medical equipment thank you to my colleagues and mr. Chairman and i yield back. We think the service the witnesses to the service of the country to get the country back up and protecting the citizens know i will follow but that supply chain i worked on this a lot so what do you see as the percentage of ppe that is now being produced in this country versus previously . Into the summer and into the fall almost reliant and then further down also nitrile gloves we make zero nitrile gloves in the United States so each one has a different dimension. Did you see hoarding going on by china there seems to be some evidence. I personally did not see it if that was going on in the early in the process i know to hhs we put things in place and coming from china. We have 40000 faulty masks coming from china did you see that faulty ppe . I know why if they are just incompetent or to undermine with and the department of state and embassies we visit warehouses that we had not done business with the for so we cannot curate anything because there were reports coming from china. One of the things going on operation warp speed to develop a vaccine. I dont know if it will happen so are you working on plans so with that plan for a district on distribution . Im not percy involved there truly is a comprehensive program and then to secure hundreds of millions of needles at the supply chain is involved with. And that depends on the vaccines characteristics and we have to understand how it works there is a comprehensive program that is the logistics guy who is widely recognized a Vaccine Developers in the world. With the death of coven situation even the governor of colorado find out there has been misreporting to in an auto accident but had covid in his system so then they reported that as a covert death because there is a perverse incentive to do that to get paid more for a covid death than an auto accident. Cdc gathers the statistics gathers on the local core doors of the attending physician so the federal government is dependent that yes there does seem to be miss incentives that were closed we heard anecdotal versions of that but i cannot give you an estimate if thats a percent but it is something that has to be done at the local level without the cdc to go back and investigate that individually. Im from missouri but my youngest daughter lives in denver and then discussing the news reports the governor of colorado all of his were reviewed down at 12 percent that is a pretty significant number and something that hhs needs to look into to make sure the numbers in the data we are getting are accurate. Somebody that is in the auto accident that is a ridiculous statement and a ridiculous part of the data and death so i hope you would take a look at that. Thank you very much. United states of florida like more than half of the death of coronavirus and estimated of the nursing home for every new yorker because i am proud of new yorks response. We followed cms guidance. Including a nursing home. So now for these to accept covid19 patients. So though so there on the health bill by cms for that facility to follow cdc guidance. And then put out by this administration. But what we lack is the ppe to prevent the threat of the virus. In states like new york and texas and florida are new cases over the june 28 weekend arizona hit a new record in each state is required to the cdc but they are not required in states like arizona are choosing not to. As of early june more than 43000 longtime residents and staff have died from covid19 one third of the nations death red states and blue states andnd purple states. So lets get the data from the Nursing Homes and also from here about health and safety regulations and these talking points because americans are dying republicans and democrats in april hhs had a whistleblower complaint alleging that he was pressured from the Political Administration does it concern you to prioritize those political connections over science and safety of the American People. Thank you maam i dont have any knowledge of any contractct that had a priority other than science what was right for the American People. Did you read the article . Which act im sorry its hard to hear the question i do apologize. Is a real person . Yes he is. Cannot read the New York Times. Okay. Im happy to answer questions but i routinely read the New York Times. You not read an article but im sure it was pointed out to you based on the fact that they raised a complaint with the whistleblowers behavior from the Trump Administration with the political connections. I understand the Department Takes every whistleblower complaintes seriously i know is being investigated by the secretary i dont have any knowledge of any pressure on doctor bright. So the exposure in the media what steps have you taken to make sure there is a level Playing Field so everyone has an opportunity to compete in those services can be delivered . I agree with your premise we do is much as possible of sure the complaints are being investigated through the general counsel. I know the secretary takes every whistleblower complaint seriously as i would im just not involved at that level. Let me be clear with your answer. You know doctor bright. And you are familiar with this allegation. Yes sir. Of course. You say it is being investigated . I am not investigating it but the secretary put out a statement he takes whistleblower complaints very seriously. And it is being investigated. Yes sir. Thank you very much recognizes. Thank you mr. Chairman. I appreciate the witnesses here today and i want to extend so much appreciation to make friend from indiana you three guys face an Impossible Task china and who lied about the Coronavirus Crisis and its welldocumented they use that time to hoard ppe which was vital to this country and to make mattersis worse the Trump Administration took the n95 mask from the Strategic National stockpile during the influenza outbreak nihi and thens the New York Times published an article march 25th that said i desperate need for ventilators call for federal investigations which may be we needed 1 million ventilators to adequately respond to the pandemic admiral to the us really need 1 million ventilators . I will answer that. As the intense care physician i was incredibly involved early on with the allocation of every single ventilator in every single request. No we did not need 1 million ventilators and we did not need 40000. Ch in fact the New York Times article from the society of Critical Care medicine that estimated over the course of the pandemic 1 Million People could require ventilator treatment thats a huge difference from needing evenlion ventilators within honest mistake a got eyepopping attention but it was repeated by other news outlets and then twitter and facebook the New York Times reported the incorrect figure and said the Trump Administration was dooming people to die it was reach we did 471 times but eventually he tweeted a correction three days later it was retweeted just 15 timesco he didnt even delete the original apocalyptic tweet this is malpractice with the service of the agenda and in service to create a narrative at whatever cost. Frankly this reminds me of the russian collusion hoax that was a hoax that we saw play out the last few years by the time the story falls apart and has beennd disproven everyone feigns outrage. During this time we had the president of the society of Critical Care medicine at fema working with us to understand specifically the need my Group Without guidance how to ventilate people along with the American Group of anesthesiology working on transition of anesthesia machines. We were involved every decision went to wave the needs and we didnt have a Single Person this country denied ventilation and now because of dpa use we will have 50000 ventilators in the stockpile by next week. How many ventilators did new york and up receiving . I do not have the actual specific number but i know they asked for tenss of thousands at first which i think that may have been 30 or 40 but new york ended up getting may be 10000 i will have to provide the committee with specific numbers if inu could. The initial was a lot they got less than a that that higher medical supplies and demand what is the status on the role the federal government and strategic to obtaintockpile and distribute medical supplies to the states . We had business systemat information from 90 percent of the medical supply chain. Its coming in for manufacturing in the warehouse and distribute down to first e sponders in Nursing Homes and hospitals also in the process to build that out with wire connections to the 600,000 plus in the United States on hand daily ouinformation and warehouses so we have the approach of the supply chain hospitals and omnational stockpil stockpile. And President Trump enacted the defense production act indiana i got on board immediately we are Still Producing domestically supplied ppee. Today. Thank you for your service i yield back. Thank youou mr. Chair. I would like to ask unanimous consent to enter into the record c from the county Health Department outlining their experience attempting to get adequate ppe and testing supplies and to summarize they tested the lack of ppe medical testing supplies has seriously hamper the ability to control the spread. So this is pursuant to Committee Rules transmitted electronically to all members we have copies but they have numbers here and what they requested versus what they h got n95 one. 6 percent of what they requested eye protection one. 4 percent on and on and as they say this has caused many additional cases hampering the spread. Its not entirely a good news story. It strikes me the biggest thing you are facing as we have seen a resumption of exponential growth of covert cases a nationwide doubling in about two weeks and hotspots in the sunbelt states several days doubling time. How many more doublings can you tolerate before the supply chain breaks . I will answer you with not a direct answer to the doubling im not a medical professional. You understand the demand. I get that. Again, states and my conversations my understanding with the large Hospital System seventies some odd 75 percent have at least 30 or 60 days of supply. What if that doubles and doubles again . It seems like in less than 30 days we will have a huge crisis unless we start seeing real selfcontrol. Also admiral you have done a great job to test on increased Testing Capacity but it is linear and increase the Testing Capacity it cannot keep up with exponential growth. So do you see any way to keep up with that command that doubles and doubles again . Yes. Thank you. My job is to make as many test available as possible as quickly as possible. We are linear as the supply chainsom kick in. And with those simple. But thats not the case in most places that is low prevalent surveillance. In the Families First coronavirus that covid19 testing to be done at no cost to the patients we work very hard getting language from hhs to make sure that was true and now i am hearing that hhs is walking this back in terms of reimbursements do you commence that it will continue to do the reimbursements necessary that the Antibody Testing will take place in a cost to the patient . Out trying to avoid this i cannot commit on reimbursement side but clearly it is our intention that diagnostic testing in the context of screening and the Antibody Test we went to work to that. If you find out thats not true. Actually i have not heard that being an issue but i will investigate that. It is very important in light of the president statements to slow down testing one technique he may be using is to charge people many for something that should be free and slowing down testing is not what we need right now i yield back. Thank you witnesses for being here today and their service to our great country is true were seeing an increase off positive covid cases United States is testing more than any other country was 637,000 on june 25th alone the most recent Data Available the Trump Administration and with the progressivee utilization and as of june 26 on the part of fema and the private sector led to the delivery of the following 167 million and respirators 27. Three face shields 299. 2 million surgical gowns and coveralls and 17. 1 billion gloves. As far as ventilators go we are assured we have more than enough so much so they are returning their ventilators to the Strategic National stockpile Washington State returned 400 california 500 instead of working with the president my colleagues to be politicized to say the very next sentence suggesting the culpability that happened just today. We cannot have a true assessment of our response because of this polarized environment makes every single action a failure. We have to get past this to come through this additionally and to have that mentality to develop the vaccine it takes an average of ten or 15 years to develop a vaccine a multistep process that takes decades doctor fauci hasd stated have a couple hundred million doses of the vaccine by the beginning of 2021 this is an incredible feat it took 42 years to develop for chickenpox or polio so how are we moving so fast that Public Health experts think we can have a vaccine in 12 months . For one we are conducting multiple phases and test simultaneously rather than one at a time which greatly increases the speed of development but alsocrde the manpower thankfully President Trump has devoted the full resources to the crucial endeavor now the wall street journal has noted a combination of other improvements with sequencing techniqueseering and unprecedented Government Support and i will emphasize the last point again the journal of medicine unprecedented Government Supportis a primary cause of the breakneck speed of development of the vaccine wasnt preferred to sit on the sidelines and attacked the ministration President Trump has been boldly acting to find a cure watching operation warp speed and selected five coronavirus candidates the pledged future vaccines are free from foldable americans to speed up development and streamline fda approval process and requirements. This administrations response is unprecedented this committee on the other hand we still have not held a single hearing or briefing on chinas responsibility for covid19. Innot one according to Columbia University not a bastion of conservativismte reported by abc news not a republican is organization had china notified america adjust sooner 60. 1 percent of americas casualties could have been avoided and was 60 percent of our casualties are we the task force designed to look at american dust have we spent 50 percent of our time looking into chinas failure fre deceptn 60 percent of our casualties according to Columbia University we have not spent a single minute investigating what the scientist that is a failure of this committee all the other side wants to do is point the finger a President Trump that is sad. Nyield. Thank you for yielding back. Thank you for your service to our country i continue to be impressed and with a counterfeit outrage summed up by the president who is complaining of nonsense like imaginary constitution all offenses and the president s quack miracle cures that is a danger to the people lets go back to reality for people are suffering according to the New York Times 80 percent in last two weeks a startling rise in those cases including florida texas alabama, arizona, oklahoma and many others shattering all records with new cases reported more than 800,000 were reported june doctor fauci says we are on track to get 100,000 cases per day that is terrifying. It is helterskelter ragtag operation. Only limited and sporadic use and in the same foreign supplier to distribute the supplies. In the mad scramble that President Trump praise the performance of the Chinese Government between generate every march and april praising general she president xi great performance with his relationship ended deal they are working to gather. Im very happy to do it. And at the beginning that trump covered up for china in the process. Thats a relationship. Not talk about supply and demand you said the demand may be conflated because some industries think they need and when they dont. Want to make sure heard you write i think you meant that janitorial services. Janitors and custodial one custodial crews like the House Office Building do they not need masks . Their standards of mask if youre talking medical grade that is covered under nir and im not saying they dont need a mask of saying theres different standards. That you are not certain can you just explain can we ever have a coordinated National Strategy to get the equipment that they need said there is a coordinated National Strategy. The states are working with me to give the warehouse information data as we work through this. The supply chain information you cannot run a supply chain without information or data so the second thing is i brought in all the Business Assistance for 90 percent of the healthcare supplyin chain so to bring in that information to all from dod. Excuse me. This is part of the answer. So fema will have the entire ecosystem to understand supply and demand across the nation. Finally given the explosive demand for ppe right now because the pandemic is out of control should we not be using the defense production act more comprehensively and extensively right now to increase the supply for the crisis coming . There are multiple areas under development to expand production and whether pharmaceuticals non cloth surgical masks, nitrile gloves, gloves, et cetera it all takes investment but. We have many efforts going on but every other category so what they are willing to do and for the other pieces of the equipment weve done i masks and ventilators the only thing we dont mention a lot is the supply chain bottleneck as a subcontractor we are looking at the subcontract we have efforts with the ppe medical equipment to expand in the us. Gentlemens time is expired. Thank you for all coming s re. Do feel we successfully flattened the curve in the United States . We did flatten the curve during the time because we expected a lot more cases. S increases in cases. Satisfied before proceeding with the within a 14 day period right now there is a lot of movement and assist him was not appropriate production like masks. Itseo important to reopen the guidelines of that personal responsibility is the key right now. The positive cases youre talking about in terms of the increase in testing we all know we want to continue to have more testing. I understand your written testimony more than 10 million enabling states to complete additional tests however is that contrary to highlighting so i hented to ask do you commit to the Committee Committee today te will not be a reduction in b ma . Theres not going to be a reduction in the Testing Capacity. We had initially acquired very few laboratory agents. In what we are seeing right now we think the market is stable enough with 10. 5 million the states willst buy that from that specific company but we did and they are not a we are not ao using this type of test that we did sort of see that by biting it and federally distributing it. My state was hit in march and april lieber struggling with those available. We tried to seek additional test sites. We had two in new jersey and we were told no more would be stood up in the country will. Who made that decision . I think thats not true because we started 41 completely federally run site but we have 624 federally sponsored or Retail Pharmacy sites now because the it wasnt until may that those were stood up but if you dont mind if we can take for the record and get back to the timeline. The last question here i want to clear up my you mentioned that those in the senate and the u. S. House of representatives in on theth executive order, so i wand to ask whether your recommendation to maintain the relationship of the who in the middle of the pandemic. I was not asked for a recommendation. So when he made the decision later in the month after you were sworn in as the u. S. Representative to the executive board he didnt seek your advice for consideration before the decision is that what you are saying . I havent provided a recommendation to anyone. Mr. Chairman, thank you. Thank you. Let me thank all of the passes for their appearance here today. To yield to the Ranking Member for any closing members i would yield to mr. Jordan. Thank you mr. Chairman. I would point out that in the last comment from the majority side the World Health Organization i think the president took a common sense position we will still give it for free but i want to thank the witnesses for being here today even though you have to have one member of the minority say you were missing in action. You had other into one of fanatical in the uniteded state, but on the Minority Side we appreciate your service to the country and your service in this critical time. We also appreciate what the attorney general said two months ago when he said the constitution isnt suspended in the crisis and amen to that. As we talked about in the last couple of hours i dont know for certain mayors or governors appreciate that fact at least at a minimum they havent appreciated for in a consistent fashion. They have a different set of rules for protests. I understand peaceful protests are fundamental to the american way of life and i supported it and have engaged inn it. To those things we have seen over the last several feet is that the peaceful protest iss important and so is the ability to practice your faith and exercised her right and ability to engage in your livelihood in the business. So is yourpe ability to attend a loved ones funeral. So we would appreciate more consistent application in the First Amendment liberties by some of the mayors around the country. We also appreciate and have raised this issue several times the gentleman from tennessee brought it up you talk about the committee looking for work and dealing with this tough time in the crisis but sometimes to properly handle and address things and look forward you need to understand what happened. That haveg things happened we talked about if china told us earlier more people would be alive in the country and around the world for some reason they dont want to look at the fundamental issue. Andde just as importantly, the decisions made by certain governors, 40 of the deaths in nursingtry have been in homes. They were just ridiculous and wrong decisions and cost the lives of so many thousands of our fellow citizens. So at some point as i said earlier the Ranking Member said we would like this information particularly from the governor of his work on this decision for city to beat the 46th Straight Days and why the majority wont help us get that information for the life of me i cannot figure it out. That is where we need to go. We need to understand what happened in the past so we can help the country to deal with this issue and with that i would yield back. Thank you, gentlemen. And now all of the Witnesses Today for their participation and thes members of the subcommittee. I ask for unanimous consent for the letter to be inserted into the record. I would also like to enter into the record the letters the committee has received from the organizations representing the workers, the american medical association, the American College of emergency physicians, the National Nurses united into the American Association of medical colleges. Oeach of these groups has writn to emphasize healthcare workers around the country are still experiencing shortages of critical supplies including masks. I would ask unanimous consent riat these be entered into the official hearing record, so ordered. In closing i want to thank the witnesses and my colleague. Todays hearing made clear as the infections and hospitalizations spiked, communities are facing shortages of personal protective equipment and testing supplies. We need action from the government to address the shortage is now before more people are exposed to make use of the resources to identify the need and to distribute supplies. Second, the Administration Needs to adhere to the contract practices including open competition to make sure that it isnt favored in the inexperienced supply areas over businesses with a track record of success. Third, the federal government must establish a comprehensive plan our federal government has the resources and man power and authority under the defense to protect the supply is in quickly get them to the communities that need them. Its time we use them. I appreciate the work of the witnesses and their coffee to the department of defense and health and Human Services. Two m. Sure this problem gets it fixed we need you to keep the commerce applies to. With that, this meeting is adjourned. [inaudible conversations] talking about policing and criminal Justice Reform with Washington Post columnist jonathan. Senator harris is considered a potential running mate for joe biden the presumptive 2020 democratic president ial nominee. For the Washington Post my guest is returning for the fourth time, senator Kamala Harris of california