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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on Monday continued a recent coronavirus-related tussle with President Donald Trump, as the New York Democrat repeated his call for Trump to pick a “senior military official” to oversee production and distribution of medial supplies and equipment, as well as “fully invoke” the Defense Production Act.
Schumer recommended three currently retired military officials for the role.
“It doesn’t have to be these three, but somebody like this, because we’re waging a war against the coronavirus. We have to make sure that the equipment, medical supplies, materials, personnel, medicines, gloves and masks are getting to the front lines,” the senator said in a conference call with reporters. “The military knows how to do these things. They know logistics.”
His picks were two former vice chairmen of the Joint Chiefs Adm — Air Force Gen. Paul Selva and Navy Adm. Sandy Winnefeld — as well as Navy Vice Adm. Mark Harnitcheck, former director of the Defense Logistics Agency.
“Many people on the front lines tell me they don’t have what they need,” Schumer said.
Trump responded to Schumer’s efforts last week in a sharply worded letter, saying “a ‘senior military officer’ is in charge of purchasing, distributing, etc. His name is Rear Admiral John Polowczyk.”
The president also said the Defense Production Act — a Korean War–era law that authorizes commanders-in-chief to force industries to produce goods — “has been consistently used by my team and me for the purchase of billions of dollars’ worth of equipment, medical supplies, ventilators, and other related items.”
Schumer on Monday said Trump administration officials “occasionally invoke it, but it’s on an ad-hoc basis.” He also said he had spoken with White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows on Sunday night, and Meadows told him he would look seriously at Schumer’s recommendations.
Related:Schumer says coronavirus stimulus package won’t provide aid to Trump family’s businesses
The back-and-forth comes as Democratic and Republican lawmakers and the Trump administration work on a fourth legislative response to the coronavirus crisis, with analysts predicting that the next big spending package isn’t likely to become a reality for weeks.
