Thread by @BBuchman_CNS

Good morning. My live-tweet of the @COVIDOversight Committee's hearing on continued PPE shortages and the Trump administration's response (or lack thereof) begins at 9AM ET today. I hope you will join me.

@CourthouseNews

https://twitter.com/COVIDOversight/status/1278455865113300995

The hearing should be underway soon.
You can also catch a live-stream courtesy of CSPAN:
c-span.org/video/?473600-…

.@WhipClyburn, who chairs the select committee, began the hearing today by reminding members to wear their masks when they are not speaking.

Why is it that the greatest nation on earth cannot get a 63 cent mask to everyone who needs one, @COVIDOversight chair Clyburn asks.

He notes how the committee has heard harrowing stories about shortages in critical supplies directly from front line workers, doctors and nurses, including those who were forced to reuse masks designed to be worn just once.

Clyburn notes how some healthcare workers resorted to wearing garbage bags because their hospitals did not have enough gowns - "That is a disgrace," he adds.

We heard about bus drivers and grocery clerks who were not given a mask or pair of gloves to stay safe.
We heard from nursing home workers and janitors who feared they might be the next to die.

Background from May:
courthousenews.com/congress-hears…

.@WhipClyburn: Some in the Trump admin would have us believe these are issues of the past. They rattle off the # of flights in Project Airbridge. Here are the facts: the WHs own internal data shows we're still facing shortages of 10s of millions of N95s, masks, gowns.

Serious shortages are reported in TX and Fla. and the Gov. of Washington has reported widespread shortages in that state. Testing labs are also facing surging demand. Many have issued dire warnings they are running short of supplies that could cripple our ability to conduct tests

Clyburn: "I am alarmed that nearly half a year into this crisis, the administration has still not adequately addressed the shortages."

3 errors were made by Trump admin. The 1st being no "clear chain of command." Rather than rely on a career official w/an experienced team, POTUS appointed a supply task force led by his son-in-law Jared Kushner. "The result has been confusion, delays & wasted resources"

The WH has pressured agencies to favor certain companies and the administration has relied on inexperienced, politically connected contractors.
A $3B contract was awarded for respirator masks to the Navajo Nation and has reportedly delivered the wrong type of masks.

Rather than using DPA to distribute supplies, the Trump admin has largely deferred to the private sector, forcing states, cities, hospitals and businesses to compete for scarce resources, driving up prices, Clyburn adds.

Today Oversight Cmte chairwoman @RepMaloney transmitted a memo to the select committee showing that the administration refused to take responsibility for determining which recipients would receive PPE or how much they would be charged.
oversight.house.gov/sites/democrat…

It also shows medical supply companies asking the feds to take a more active role in procurement and failing to do so because as one person said, "Politics got in the way of that."

Rear Admiral John Polowczyk, Vice Director of Logistics, Joint Chiefs of Staff, Supply Chain Stabilization Task Force, on behalf of Department of Defense is testifying today.

He was tapped to head the task force on March 19.

Upon arriving from the Pentagon, he realized the strategic national stockpile could not address the demand and the bulk of what was once there went to states so feds did not have what they needed to provide additional support, he claims.

Unlike a natural disaster, the pandemic was different. It didn't damage the strength of the medical supply chain. The chain that delivered at speed was available to be leveraged at a public-private partnership, but the domestic consumption was far greater than usual, he says.

This prompted the need for expedited shipments from overseas, "unfortunately," he says. With the shortage of PPE, the acceleration of the commercial market was required because they couldn't wait for the resources.
"Airbridge was about speed."

Supplies don't need to be aggregated, passed onto state govt warehouses, onto municipalities and finally on the frontlines.

He lauds Airbidge's production by 4/30 delivering 800k N95 respirators, 825M gloves, 75M surgi. masks, 11M gowns, 2M thermometers, 265k faces shields.

"These would have been unavailable if normal shipping had been used," Polowczyk says.

Then he notes that shipping was based on outbreak data from the CDC - (which was flawed and frequently laggy)

He's confident the national stockpile will grow to 300M N95 masks by fall.

Adm Brett Giroir says "surge testing" now conducted. Overall, 35M tests done, averaging 555k tests per day. States far surpassed testing goals for June, he adds. Predicts US can do 40-50M tests per month by fall.
But for your consideration: cnbc.com/2020/07/01/us-…

Kevin Fahey, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Department of Defense, also testifying today.

Fahey notes 13K contracts issued through Defense obligating $800M as of June 2 including funding for FEMA and HHS contracts valued at $2B for test kits, ventilators, Rx drugs. He lauds swab manufacturing.
Fahey says test kit capacity could expand in December.
December.

Clyburn shows Polowczyk a June internal WH document showing projections of supply and demand for masks, gowns and other supplies.
It confirms what we have known for weeks, he says. We have crucial shortages in masks and gowns.

Clyburn says the demand was understood for March, April, May indicating we should need more than 160m N95 masks by July alone but that imports and domestic production together would only supply about 130M masks.

That leaves a projected shortfall of 30M masks.

The docs suggest the gap could be made up by decontamination and reusing old masks even though the FDA, CDC and America's largest mask manufacturer 3M raised safety concerns about this method, Clyburn said.

Clyburn: How is it possible that more than 5 mos. into the crisis, our country is still facing a possible shortage of 30M N95 masks this month?

Polowczyk says he "didn't factor in what states had purchased for masks" so that not make it into his supply calculations.

The projection for July was "worst-case scenario" and he says, did not include every non-healthcare like those in janitorial services.
"Everybody that thinks they need an N95 mask but may not."

Clyburn says thank you but the WH also projected shortages that were conservative and based on steadily declining hospitalization.

But hospitalizations are skyrocketing in several states now including SC, TX, Arizona and elsewhere.

Maxine Waters addresses this and asks Polowczyk how he didn't know what the states were doing in terms of supply chain; he defends himself says "not really" but she cuts in, saying he just admitted to not including estimates .

Waters asks does he now have a plan by which he has what he needs from states so when he gives projections going forward, they include both fed stockpile and state resources?
He says yes, "several echelons of supply" will be in place. Some states are looking at 90-120 days supply

Rep. Waters: But do those states submit a report? A regular report? Weekly, monthly?

Polowczyk says states are not reporting on that now. "That's what I understand," Waters says. "That's why you don't have a regular plan."

Then Waters grills him about the role Jared Kushner plays at FEMA. Polowczyk says Kushner has none.
"He plays no role in anything I do."
Waters says Kushner been sent to FEMA.
Polowczyk denies this, saying Kushner is part of the WH advisory team only.

"I would highly doubt he has any role in acquisition and contracting. Like even myself, the acquisition and contracting people don't work for me," Polowczyk says of Kushner's role in PPE supply chain.

From the NYT, May: nytimes.com/2020/05/05/us/…

Rep Jim Jordan railed on Democratic mayors and governors for several minutes for spreading covid, berating protesters, saying Dems kneel down to protesters and offer no consistency on 1A.

Clyburn takes over and asks Giroir: is Covid19 a hoax?
Giroir: No sir it is not a hoax.

Clyburn: Will it disappear miraculously?
Giroir: We will only gain control over Covid 19 by disciplined public health measures and eventually a vaccine.

Clyburn says and in the interim would wearing masks indicate us doing our part?
Giroir without hesitation says yes, wearing a mask is a critical public health component.

Rep. Jim Jordan cuts in and says "What's more important wearing a mask or not sending Covid-19 people back into nursing homes," suggesting this spread was a result of Dem inaction.

Crosstalk w/Jordan off mic. Clyburn says again: "This is not a hoax. A republican president said that it is."
Then to Jordan who is still talking off mic: "I just want you to know, you're going to be checked for everything you say in here. I'm going to stick with the science."

.@RepMaloney: did the Trump admin provide adequate guidance to the private sector on how to procure and distribute PPE to those who needed it most?

Polowczyk: These legal agreements we signed w/the commercial enterprise allowed us to direct efforts to where the government felt the highest need was
But Maloneys says an Oversight investigation found the admin "completely and utterly failed" to do that w/in 1st 3 mos.

Oversight talked to the biggest medical distro companies in the US and those companies told lawmakers they were pleading with feds on how to prioritize distro of PPE but they were missing in action.
This prompts Polowczyk to say he was only appointed to the role in March.

Maloney says OK, but even by March 28, industry trade groups had sent a letter begging the administration to provide guidance so they could effectively target PPE where it was most needed.

Spike in cases around the U.S. and Dr. Anthony Fauci just told Congress this ⤵️and notably, there is a lot of glowing commentary today from Republicans on how well the U.S. is positioned on ventilators and that we a shouldn't worry ourselves further.
courthousenews.com/senate-hypes-m…

Rep. Bill Foster says to Polocyzwk, in his state of IL, they received only 1.6% of the masks they requested from feds.
This has hampered their ability to stop the spread, Foster said.

Foster says the biggest challenge the feds are facing is the doubling of cases, the exponential growth over several days. To Polocyzwk:
How many more doublings can we tolerate before the supply chain breaks?
Polo. says he can't answer because he's not a medical professional.

There is cross talk.
Polo. says in his work with every hospital system and regional manager, most, he claims roughly 75% have 30-60 days of PPE supply on hand.
Foster says but what does that do if the demand doubles and doubles and doubles again?

Rep Foster: "It seems in less than 30 days we're going to have huge crisis unless we start seeing real self control on this."

Then Foster to Giroir: "You can see you've done a great job on test capacity but its linear. It can't keep up with exponential growth."

Foster: "Do you see any way to keep up with the demand that doubles & doubles & doubles again?"
Giroir: "We're a little bit linear but we're going to get a little more exponential as supply chains kick in for some of the point of care tests."

On reports suggesting HHS is walking back reimbursement for Covid-19 testing, will HHS commit ensuring antibody testing takes place at no cost?
Giroir says he's not trying to avoid Q. but he's not the person to comment on this but commits to free diagnostic testing not antibody

.@RepRaskin says the Trump admin's use of DPA has been "limited and sporadic" and often uses foreign suppliers when they do enforce it, incl. those from China.
Raskin notes how Trump praised Pres. Xi in 37x in Jan, Feb, March and April.

If this is about blameshifting Raskin says: "If Republicans want to go down that road, I'm happy to do it because it will lead to total disgrace and embarrassment.
If China covered up in the beginning, which I think they did, President Trump covered up for China."

Raskin also picks up the thread from a comment Polowczyk made earlier about some people not needing masks. Raskin pointedly: is he suggesting the janitorial staff cleaning the Rayburn building tonight do not need masks?

Polowczyk says there are different standards of masks, not saying they don't need a mask.

Rep Andy Kim opens his remarks with a question to Adm. Giroir: Do you assess that we have successfully flattened the curve in the United States?
Giroir: We did flatten the curve during the time to flatten the curve but right now as you know the cases are going up.

But are we flattening the curve now, Kim asks.
Giroir says no, the curve is still going up
Kim asks: are we headed in the right direction?
Giroir: some states are, some states are not.
Kim asks him for his analysis on suggestion that increased cases only result of more tests

Giroir says "We believe it is a real increase in cases because the percent positives are going up."

In other words - It is not just because there are more tests that you are seeing more cases of Covid-19
The virus is spreading actively.

Rep. Andy Kim, D-NJ, looking at guidelines to "Open America" The criteria includes that cases must have a downward trajectory within 14 day period or of testing for 14 days. How many states are meeting this standard?
Giroir says "there's a lot of movement in the system."

Giroir says "what we're seeing is states reopening cases with no cases and we've seen cases where states that did not reopen, have a lot of cases.
He pins the current outbreak "due to under 35s with a lot of gatherings and without protection like masks."

Personal responsibility is really a key right now, Giroir says.

Giroir says there is no plan to reduce testing, despite suggestions otherwise.
Giroir had said reforms are needed at WHO. Kim asks was it his suggestion that US terminate the relationship w/the org. during the pandemic? Giroir says he was not consulted on the decision.

This prompted Rep. Jim Jordan to defend Trump and say the WHO "lied to us."
The president took a "common sense position" when he said we don't have to pay orgs to lie to us, they'll do it for free.

Jordan also slams Maloney; suggests Dems gave more credence to reports of media shortages than what the govt says.

Jordan says mayors and guvs don't appreciate what the feds have done.

Jordan says he wants "consistency" in application of 1A by Dem mayors and governors, says people cannot go to funerals, but they can go to protests.

In his closing remarks today, Chairman Clyburn includes letters from the American Medical Association, National Nurses United, American Association of Medical Colleges et al that have emphasized how healthcare workers are still experiencing shortages of PPE including masks.

Clyburn says today's hearing made clear that as Covid cases spike around the US, communities are facing alarming shortages of PPE.
"We need urgent action from the federal govt to address these shortages now before more people are exposed & the virus spins further out of control"

Our federal government has the resources, manpower and the legal authority under the Defense Production Act to procure the necessary supplies and quickly get them to the communities that need them.

Clyburn says he appreciates the work of DoD, HHS, FEMA, but to ensure current problems get fixed, they must keep Congress informed of their progress.
Clyburn calls on all agencies to provide biweekly updates on the projected supply and demand for PPE as well as testing supplies.

That concludes my live-tweet session. I will have a report for @CourthouseNews coming up.
Thanks for following along.

STORY: House lawmakers confronted White House officials Thursday with a report that the country did not, and more critically will not, command enough protective medical equipment to meet the surge in cases of Covid-19.
wp.me/p7VhVF-2seH @CourthouseNews