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William Seger

(10,742 posts)
Tue Sep 22, 2020, 07:15 AM Sep 2020

Pentagon used taxpayer money meant for masks and swabs to make jet engine parts and body armor

Source: Washington Post

A $1 billion fund Congress gave the Pentagon in March to build up the country’s supplies of medical equipment has instead been mostly funneled to defense contractors and used for making things such as jet engine parts, body armor and dress uniforms.

The change illustrates how one taxpayer-backed effort to battle the novel coronavirus, which has killed roughly 200,000 Americans, was instead diverted toward patching up long-standing perceived gaps in military supplies.

The Cares Act, which Congress passed earlier this year, gave the Pentagon money to “prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus.” But a few weeks later, the Defense Department began reshaping how it would award the money in a way that represented a major departure from Congress’s original intent.

The payments were made even though U.S. health officials believe there are still major funding gaps in responding to the pandemic. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in Senate testimony last week that states desperately need $6 billion to distribute vaccines to Americans early next year. There remains a severe shortage of N95 masks at numerous U.S. hospitals. These are the types of problems that the money was originally intended to address.


Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/09/22/covid-funds-pentagon/

11 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Pentagon used taxpayer money meant for masks and swabs to make jet engine parts and body armor (Original Post) William Seger Sep 2020 OP
K&R Solly Mack Sep 2020 #1
I heard on this morning's news that there are hospitals which lack the proper masks and ventilators Frustratedlady Sep 2020 #2
This had to have been approved by Trump Administration. secondwind Sep 2020 #3
As a former DeminPennswoods Sep 2020 #4
Great insight jayschool2013 Sep 2020 #6
Back in the day jayschool2013 Sep 2020 #5
K n R FailureToCommunicate Sep 2020 #7
Coordinated effort Python boot Sep 2020 #8
For Decades!!!!!! McKim Sep 2020 #9
Same old $500 toilet seats... Bayard Sep 2020 #10
Even though they probably have s greater need for PPE than most Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin Sep 2020 #11

Frustratedlady

(16,254 posts)
2. I heard on this morning's news that there are hospitals which lack the proper masks and ventilators
Tue Sep 22, 2020, 07:48 AM
Sep 2020

I'm sure Trump has bragged time and again how he got companies to build ventilators and PPE. That they had so many ventilators that he was selling them to foreign countries. Why are our hospitals lacking them, then? Is this part of the reason?

We're f'd...and I rarely use that term.

secondwind

(16,903 posts)
3. This had to have been approved by Trump Administration.
Tue Sep 22, 2020, 07:50 AM
Sep 2020

He doesn’t care, we all know this, but he likes to brag about how he has helped the military.

DeminPennswoods

(15,246 posts)
4. As a former
Tue Sep 22, 2020, 08:06 AM
Sep 2020

DoD spare parts manager, there is a good bit of truth about defense contractors in this story. The critical manufacturing capability has been shrinking for years. It wasn't helped when the BRAC process shut down many military depots that repaired military equipment. Those facilities could have been used to make things in an emergency, but now that capability has been mostly lost. Defense contractors simply do not want to hold on to expertise or manufacturing capability if there's no DoD guaranteed long term production contracts. It wasn't always this way, but the pressure on the publicly traded companies to show a profit for investors or meet stock market performance expectations has pushed these companies into cost-cutting measures that affect military readiness in ways that aren't readily apparent to the general public. The DoD supply chain is a lot more fragile than most people think. There is a case to be made for what DoD did even though it might not have been what Congress intended.

jayschool2013

(2,309 posts)
5. Back in the day
Tue Sep 22, 2020, 09:06 AM
Sep 2020

Way back in the day, say the 20th and early 21st centuries, before most of the population stopped paying attention to real journalism, a story like this might have a real impact.

Unfortunately, we're not a society that consumes or believes what experienced, trained, nonpartisan journalists report. We watch the TV and bitch about the "MSM."

Python boot

(74 posts)
8. Coordinated effort
Tue Sep 22, 2020, 10:25 AM
Sep 2020

Our national stockpile of PPE and ventilators was given away as the first salvo in the war against "the blue states". I was ashamed for my country as I watched Governor Cuomo beg for PPE for the front line medical professionals in New York. How many gave their lives for this treachery. Nevermind the laws against diverting appropriations, their actions were a coordinated effort to hurt people. And when I say coordinated, I mean Putin.


The United States Announces Assistance To Combat the Novel Coronavirus
PRESS STATEMENT

MICHAEL R. POMPEO, SECRETARY OF STATE

FEBRUARY 7, 2020

Share
This week the State Department has facilitated the transportation of nearly 17.8 tons of donated medical supplies to the Chinese people, including masks, gowns, gauze, respirators, and other vital materials. These donations are a testament to the generosity of the American people.

Today, the United States government is announcing it is prepared to spend up to $100 million in existing funds to assist China and other impacted countries, both directly and through multilateral organizations, to contain and combat the novel coronavirus. This commitment – along with the hundreds of millions generously donated by the American private sector – demonstrates strong U.S. leadership in response to the outbreak.

McKim

(2,412 posts)
9. For Decades!!!!!!
Tue Sep 22, 2020, 11:03 AM
Sep 2020

This distortion of the use of our tax dollars has been going on for decades since the War on Vietnam. President Johnson chose guns over butter and the War on Poverty ended while our money went down the endless sewer at the Pentagon. Next came the Wars on Iraq, Syria,Libya and elsewhere. Meanwhile back at home we lack health care, infrastructure, support for community and the arts and every wonderful thing. War, it's why we can't have nice things.
This will continue until the American people wake up and demand that they directly benefit from our communal tax dollars. No taxation without representation!

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