Today, Congressman Patrick McHenry (NC-10), the Republican leader of the House Financial Services Committee, issued the following statement after President Donald Trump invoked the Defense Production Act (DPA) in the ongoing fight against coronavirus (COVID-19):

“This is an aggressive and necessary move by President Trump. By invoking the Defense Production Act, the President is taking another important step to expand production capacity and work with our manufacturers in this nationwide fight against coronavirus. Ultimately, this will help ensure the American people have access to testing, medical supplies, and lifesaving medicines.”

Key facts:

• The President and designated agencies can use DPA for several purposes, including:
  • Under Title I, the government can advance to the head of the line to obtain goods and services for the national defense. In this case, respirators, masks, test kit parts, and more.
  • Under Title III, the government can provide economic incentives to boost production of key materials—like personal protective equipment and swabs—and national security materials. In this case, it could also apply to retrofitting national pharmacy chain drive thrus to allow for drive thru coronavirus testing.
• DPA funds carry over year to year. The Administration can access DPA funds immediately to retrofit pharmacies and parking lots for drive thru and drive up testing, for example.