Nation

McCarthy: Pelosi’s Coronavirus Committee Is ‘Pure Politics’

Published

2 years ago

April 3, 2020

Staff Writer

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s formation of a House Select Committee to investigate the Federal government’s response to the coronavirus is “pure politics”, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said on “Fox & Friends” Friday.

Further, the GOP leader argued that there are three “oversight entities” included in the CARES Act that passed last Friday, including a pandemic oversight inspector general, a presidential appointee confirmed by the Senate, and a Congressional oversight appointee.

“What’s most telling here is who she appointed. She didn’t go with the Oversight Committee Chair, her own. She appointed Clyburn, and remember what Clyburn said, her Majority Whip, he said this is a time to restructure their vision, government,” McCarthy said.

Led by @WhipClyburn, the Select Committee will root out waste, fraud, and abuse, and ensure money makes it to those who need it most – the working families struggling to pay rent and put food on the table. #FamiliesFirst https://t.co/mlqwIZdA9O

— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) April 2, 2020

McCarthy added, “This isn’t about oversight. It sounds like pure politics. Really the Speaker should be focused on what we need to deliver to the American public. Let’s take care of the crisis at hand right now. We have five different oversights already looking at this and this is what she comes up with?”

Pelosi announced the formation of the Committee during a conference call with reporters on Thursday. During the call, she confirmed that the committee will have the power to subpoena witnesses.

“The greatness of our nation is in its ability to rise to extraordinary challenges, no matter how big,” she said. “Now, at this time, we face this deadly virus and a battered economy with millions of American suddenly out of work. Congress has taken an important step in leading this crisis by passing three bills with over $2 trillion in emergency relief. We need to ensure those dollars are spent carefully and effectively.”

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Nation

Health Industry Distributors’ Association: Supply Chain Delays ‘A Healthcare Issue’

Published

4 weeks ago

December 27, 2021

Staff Writer

The Health Industry Distributors’ Association (HIDA) released harrowing data stating “Transportation Delays Are A Healthcare Issue.” HIDA’s December release states, “research estimates that approximately 8,000-12,000 containers of critical medical supplies are delayed an average of up to 37 days throughout the transportation system.”

The statement continues, “The West Coast port with the greatest number of delayed medical containers are the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles. The most congested East Coast port is the Port of Savannah.”

An infographic is accompanied with the statement which breaks down the crisis further. 17 is the average number of days the shipments are delayed at the Port. There’s an 11 day average delay by rail, and a 9 day average delay by truck.

In those shipping containers, the infographic states 187,000 gowns, 360,000 syringes and 3.5 million surgical gloves are held. The ports with the most medical delayed supplies are Los Angeles/Long Beach, Savannah, New York/New Jersey, Charleston, Seattle, Oakland, Boston, Baltimore and Houston.

Axios reports under a “Why it matters” headline, that “Per their projections, medical supplies arriving at a U.S. port on Christmas Day won’t be delivered to hospitals and other care settings until February 2022.”

As a result, “that could delay critical supplies at a time when health care is already expected to most need them due to surges from Delta and Omicron.”

Additionally, “The supply chain problems can compound, starting with medical supplies languishing in U.S. ports for an average of 17 days, officials said.”