President Trump Invokes Wartime Law ‘The Defense Production Act’—Here’s What That Does

Topline: At Wednesday's White House press briefing, President Trump said he would invoke the Defense Production Act of 1950 in response to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, which gives the federal government broad powers to enlist private companies to help with national crises. 

• The Defense Production Act of 1950, enacted at the outset of the Korean War, allows the federal government to compel companies through loans, loan guarantees, purchases and purchase commitments to prioritize and expedite development of supplies and resources to support national defense.
• In this case, the Defense Production Act will be used to accelerate the development of medical masks, ventilators and other healthcare supplies as cases of the coronavirus tick up in the country, according to a count by Johns Hopkins University.
• According to a Reuters report, the Trump administration mulled using the act last month, around the time the president was attempting to minimize the effects of the coronavirus.

• There's been mounting pressure for the administration to invoke the act, including a letter Tuesday signed by 27 Democratic Senators and one Independent, including Chuck Schumer, Sherrod Brown, Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren.
• Testifying before Congress at the end of February, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar stated that up to 300 million masks could be needed for U.S. healthcare workers, and the current national stockpile sits at 30 million; making the shortage more difficult, the majority of the medical supplies are manufactured in China, according to the New York Times.
• An instance where the Defense Production Act was used domestically in the past occurred in January 2001, by President Bill Clinton and then President George W. Bush to supply California utilities with emergency electric power and natural gas amidst electric blackouts, according to a Congressional Research Service report.

Key Background: There are 7,324 cases of the coronavirus in the U.S., with the death toll so far reaching 108, according to the Washington Post.

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