Governors are looking for ways out of the tilted coronavirus-supply bidding war Trump's pushed them into
President Trump has made it pretty clear he doesn't think the federal government has more than an advisory and support role in battling the COVID-19 pandemic, especially when it comes to ensuring U.S. states and health-care systems have adequate medical supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) to fight the coronavirus. State officials have gotten the message. Procuring ventilators and PPE has proved especially tricky, though, with state and local governments forced to bid against each other — and the federal government.
And the bidding isn't fair. Trump has used the Defense Production Act to compel companies to sell medical supplies to the federal government before states or hospitals, Kaiser Health News reports, and Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker (R) is the most prominent, but not the only, state official to say federal authorities seized shipments of masks the state had ordered from private wholesalers. It isn't clear what the federal government plans to do with these supplies.
"Our biggest problem is that just about every single order that we have out there for PPE, we get a call right when it's supposed to be shipped and it's typically the federal government has bought it," Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) said Saturday. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) has described trying to buy ventilators and masks as "like being on eBay with 50 other states," while Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson said on Sunday's Meet the Press that "it literally is a global jungle that we're competing in now" and he'd "like to see a better way."
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said in a news conference last week that states are starting to band together "to see if we can help procure not only a reduction in costs per unit, but also procure a mindset where we're not playing in the margins of a zero sum where it's us versus them" on buying needed supplies. Cuomo suggested "we need a nationwide buying consortium."
"By delegating significant responsibility to state leaders and the business community, Trump can continue to approach his job as he often has: as a spectator pundit-in-chief, watching events unfold on television with the rest of the nation and weighing in with colorful Twitter commentary," The Associated Press notes. But letting the governors take charge carries political risks, too.
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