From GovTech: Federal Government Falls Behind Governors on Coronavirus Response. “The governors’ actions have transcended party. Republicans such as Charlie Baker in Massachusetts, Mike DeWine in Ohio and Larry Hogan in Maryland, as well as Democrats including Andrew Cuomo in New York and Gavin Newsom in California, have taken the lead.”
Opinion Piece from the NY Times: We Need a Unified Military Command for Disaster Response. “The pandemic is only one of many potential disasters that will require unity of action among the armed services.”
From Bloomberg: Trump’s Fear of Experts Hurt the Coronavirus Response
In emergencies, it’s supposed to be the experts — not the president — who are in charge. As a constitutional matter, emergency powers come from Congress and are granted to the executive. They are not inherent executive powers of a kind that a president may have in wartime by virtue of being Commander in Chief. (Although Congress could, in theory, grant special emergency authority to the president himself, subject to it being exercised by rational, bureaucratic experts who work for him.)
Similarly, emergency laws vest executive decision-making authority in expert-run agencies, not the White House. Thus, a typical emergencies powers law says that when the president invokes an emergency — whether in a public health crisis or a natural disaster — the relevant agency is authorized to perform the emergency functions. Those agency decisions have to be based on rational decision making and have to be explained publicly, even if after the fact. These laws are supposed to avoid a situation where a president relies on his own instincts or advice from non-experts in his circle.
Postings re March 18 Invoking:
(1) From the WashPost: Governors and mayors in growing uproar over Trump’s lagging coronavirus response.
A fundamental issue is when the President will invoke the Defense Production Act. A quote on that from Biden: “Mr. President, stop lying and start acting,” Biden said. “Use the full extent of your authorities, now, to ensure that we are producing all essential goods and delivering them where they need to go.”
Update on March 24th, when first use of the Act is made: from Politico: Trump will use Defense Production Act to secure thousands of test kits. FEMA Administrator Peter Gaynor said activating the statute would help access test kits and face masks.
Update on March 25th: Is Trump using the Defense Production Act? Two excerpts:
The New York Times reported that lobbying from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and major corporate chiefs dissuaded Trump from using the full powers of the Defense Production Act.
A Biden health-care adviser said using the full force of the Defense Production Act would yield more visibility into manufacturing and supply-chain capabilities. “We need the U.S. government to be able to have insight into that supply chain and insight into the distribution of those supplies to where they are most needed, and only the U.S. government, HHS and FEMA can do that,” the adviser said. “It’s not just the simple production that you need from the DPA, [it’s] the extraordinary variety of the things we need: everything from sophisticated equipment like ventilators to nonsophisticated equipment like swabs and millions of tests.”
Update on March 28: Trump is finally using the Defense Production Act to make ventilators. But that might not solve the problem. Making ventilators is hard. Getting politicians to agree on paying for them is harder.
From BloombergNews: Coronavirus and Climate Change Could Stretch FEMA Past Its Limit. Staffing shortfalls at the U.S. disaster-response agency could impair its ability to tackle a pandemic on top of extreme weather events.
From Bloomberg News: The Economic Response We Need to the Coronavirus. A strong recovery requires immediate relief to be coupled with long-term investment.
From USAToday:Fact check: Can Trump use the Stafford Act to order a national, mandatory 2-week quarantine?
Note the useful list of sources at the end of the article.
New York Gets A Major Disaster Declaration, Unlocks Access To Federal Relief Funding
The Diva is not sure why it took so long. Both the mayor of NYC and the Governor have been begging for federal help.
From ABC News: Where has FEMA been during coronavirus response? “FEMA did not provide one concrete example of what the agency is doing to help.”
Update on March 21: A bit more information on the process. What a National Emergency Means for FEMA During COVID-19 Crisis
Recovery Diva 