Reading between the lines: the US Chamber of Commerce and Corporations are lobbying Trump (Jared?) not to actually use the Defense Production Act. The act would not only force companies to retool production for supplying hospitals with gear to fight COVID19, it would allow the Federal Government to over-see pricing and allotment.
Trump has repeatedly lied about using the DPA and about ability of companies to put profit margins aside and respond to supply-chain needs effectively. The fact is, companies may have ramped up production of protective gear, but without an outside over-seer, these same companies can cancel orders at any time, jack up prices, allot supplies to favored destinations.
Business leaders have said invoking the defense law is not necessary. During his appearance with the members of his coronavirus task force on Friday, Mr. Trump supported that idea and said that private companies, including General Motors, had volunteered to produce supplies without any prompting from the government.
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Some of the president’s advisers have privately said that they share the longstanding opposition of conservatives to government intervention and oppose using the law, and the president again signaled his own ambivalence about it.
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But John Murphy, the senior vice president for international policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said that corporate executives were already working “hand in glove” with the government on production challenges.
“American companies will do whatever it takes to support our country’s response to the pandemic and shore up the economy,” he said. “The Defense Production Act was designed for defense industry products with a single supplier, often with purely domestic production chains, and invoking it may do more harm than good in sectors such as pharmaceuticals and medical equipment.”
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And without the Defense Production Act, the government will lack the ability to channel these supplies to areas that need it most — or to persuade companies to act quickly and without regard for their profits.
www.nytimes.com/...