House Speaker Nancy Pelosi must be blind. She’s actually advocating that she and her fellow Democrats nationalize the medical supply chain and is holding the third coronavirus relief bill hostage until she and her party get what they want. She wants us to believe that this is the only solution to meet the growing need for goods to combat the coronavirus. What this is truly about is her and her colleagues’ own arrogance and quest for government expansion and control of the economy -- an obvious power grab that’s clearly designed to exploit the COVID-19 national emergency.
Is Pelosi so out of touch that she can’t see her own federal government working in sync with the private sector to address the multitude of issues associated with the coronavirus? Surely, she has staff who monitor the media reports, ones that are actually published that is, showing the progress the President has made directly addressing the medical supply chain.
How could she miss the recent report from Peter Navarro, Assistant to the President for manufacturing and trade policy and Director of the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy showing a collaboration by manufacturers and the White House that is reminiscent of efforts experienced during World War II?
Had she been paying attention, she would have learned that the White House is moving to fast-track contract approval for a manufacturer to expand production capacity throughout the country so they can make millions of N95 masks each week. She’d also know that the White House partnered with the Pentagon to pick up and fly out close to one million coronavirus test swabs from Italy, where it’s tough to move anything by plane these days due to flight restrictions. Once the swabs arrived on US soil, the private sector took over from there with FedEx flying the swabs to five different US cities enabling Americans to access them within 72 hours of their availability.
Can Speaker Pelosi and her Democrat colleagues be the only ones not to know that alcoholic beverage makers are now re-tooling their factories to accommodate the production of hand sanitizers? Does she know that the FDA and HHS sped the reduction of government red tape to help make this happen? One company will be donating as much as 4,000 gallons of hand sanitizer a week to FEMA for nationwide distribution.
Then there’s the coordination between Navarro’s office and the National Association of Manufacturers where multiple companies will work together to provide ventilators, monitors, test kits, gloves and protective suits. Pelosi and the Democrats have got to know about this, right? Or that a large group of textile organizations committed to working with the White House to produce millions of masks each week?
Blind to all of this collaboration and right from Saul Alinsky’s playbook, Pelosi is leading the charge to “never let a good crisis go to waste” by making a play for power and influence at the expense of the American people, some of whom either have died or are physically suffering from the virus and others who are weary and frightened as a result of the media-induced hysteria.
Pelosi needs to stop this nonsense right now and put the needs of the American people over the Democrats’ unquenchable thirst for government intervention and control. She would be wise to learn from those on the frontlines of this crisis. Not far from Washington, DC is Allentown, PA where Dr. Kimberly Corba runs a direct primary care practice. Dr. Corba related her and her fellow physicians’ unique ways to keep their practices operational during the pandemic, like hand making masks out of special material and making her own disinfectant and wipes so they can continue to treat afflicted patients until supplies catch up. You’ll notice that Dr. Corba didn’t run to Pelosi and the Democrats to plead with them to take over anything.
America has a storied history of rising up to meet difficult challenges and we are known for our resourcefulness. This Speaker of the House needs to foster cooperation, not exploitation and get out of the way so American manufacturers can do what they do best in times of crisis – adapt, innovate, cooperate and produce.