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To slow the spread of coronavirus and help American people and businesses weather the economic downturn as states have ordered residents to stay home and restricted business activity, Congress has passed three major bills to get needed supplies to health care providers and needed financial assistance to families, workers and businesses. Another federal stimulus package is under consideration. The price tag for these efforts will be in the trillions of dollars.
With so much money — and so many lives — at stake, it is crucial that these efforts have diligent oversight to ensure the help goes to where it is intended and most needed.
[Our COVID-19 tracker contains the most recent information on Maine cases by county]
Already, however, the Trump administration is stifling oversight efforts, which will likely make the widespread emergency response less effective.
Here’s one example. Hospitals have warned for weeks that they are desperately short of personal protective equipment — masks, gowns, gloves — and have asked the federal government to release supplies and medical equipment like ventilators from a national stockpile.
The Trump administration essentially told states to take the lead when it came to acquiring this needed equipment. So states, hospitals and the federal government have been working — often against one another — to buy it. Middlemen are in the mix too, buying scarce supplies and selling them at a hefty markup.
Now, hospitals are finding their orders raided by the federal government.
Hospitals and medical systems from Alaska to Florida have reported that orders for testing supplies, masks and thermostats were diverted. They don’t know where the supplies went or if they will ever get them, they told the Los Angeles Times.
Federal officials have offered little clarity about how decisions are made about distributing needed supplies and why orders are seized but not others, even as members of Congress, including Maine’s delegation have sought additional equipment as well as clarity on how it is being distributed.
“This is unfathomable and demands further oversight,” Rep. Chellie Pingree said in a statement to the Bangor Daily News. “Doctors and nurses on the front lines are being told to reuse protective masks – we can’t let this continue.”
The first line of oversight should come from Congress, but most members are at home because of coronavirus.
This is fundamentally wrong, Rep. Jared Golden has argued since the March passage of the $2.2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act when he urged lawmakers to stay in session. “Congress is essential and should be in Washington doing oversight … its core mission,” Golden said in an interview with the Bangor Daily News editorial board.
Just as grocery store clerks, shipbuilders and other workers remain on the job doing work that has been deemed essential, Golden said Congress should remain in session overseeing the coronavirus response and being prepared to pass legislation to improve it. That work can be done in a way that protects members of Congress and their staffs, he said.
By “sitting on the sidelines,” Congress has created a vacuum that allows House and Senate leaders, key committee chairs and the administration to work with little oversight and transparency, Golden said.
This lack of congressional oversight is compounded by the Trump administration’s derision and dismissal of several inspectors general, the people tasked with overseeing the work of government agencies and programs.
When asked on Monday about a survey done by the inspector general for the Department of Health and Human Services that found hospitals struggling to get personal protective equipment, President Donald Trump said the report was “ just wrong.” He asked for details about who the inspector general was and then lashed out at reporters for asking such questions.
On Tuesday, the Trump administration announced that it had removed the inspector general who was set to oversee the $2.2 trillion coronavirus economic relief package passed by Congress last month.
Last Friday, Trump fired Michael Atkinson, the intelligence community inspector general who forwarded to Congress a whistleblower complaint that ultimately led to impeachment proceedings against the president.
Sen. Susan Collins joined a bipartisan group of senators in sending a letter to the president asking him to explain his removal of Atkinson, as required under a 2008 law that she co-wrote.
“ … I did not find [the president’s] rationale for removing Inspector General Atkinson to be persuasive,” Collins said in a statement last Friday. “While I recognize that the President has the authority to appoint and remove Inspectors General, I believe Inspector General Atkinson served the Intelligence Community and the American people well, and his removal was not warranted.”
These moves, Sen. Angus King told MSNBC on Wednesday, are “cutting off the American people’s access to what’s going on within their government.”
The president is also “cutting himself off from good advice,” King added. “When people tell the boss what he or she wants to hear you’re going to make bad decisions,” he said.
Plenty of poor decisions have been made in responding to the coronavirus pandemic. Everyone should want to ensure better decisions in the future. Transparency and oversight are essential to ensuring this happens.
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