Vox: Exclusive: Elizabeth Warren and Jan Schakowsky have a plan to end mask and medicine shortages amid the Covid-19 crisis
The Democratic lawmakers want the government to take responsibility for manufacturing coronavirus supplies.
Under a new bill from Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), a new federal agency would take responsibility for eliminating protective gear shortages and other supply scarcities critical to the coronavirus response.
The legislation, to be released on Thursday and shared first with Vox, seeks to remedy the critical supply shortages reported in some Covid-19 hot spots. It also serves as a counter to President Donald Trump’s reluctance to exploit the full power of the Defense Production Act (DPA) to address those problems.
The bill would set up a new Emergency Office of Manufacturing for Public Health within the US Health and Human Services Department. That agency would be charged with guaranteeing “an adequate supply of drugs, devices, biological products, active pharmaceutical ingredients, and other supplies necessary to diagnose, mitigate, and treat COVID-19 and to address shortages in products used to treat non-COVID conditions and illnesses,” according to a summary of the bill.
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Read the full article on the Vox website here.
By: Dylan Scott
Source: Vox
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