Transcripts For CSPAN3 Former FEMA Administator Fugate Others Testify On Federal Response To... 20240712

At a joint hearing on the coronavirus and the procurement of personal protective equipment and other medical supplies. This rants an hour and a half. Joint hearing will come to order. Let me begin by thanking everyone for joining us today. I hope that my colleagues, our witnesses and viewers are staying healthy and safe. I want to thank chairman pain and Ranking Member king of the Emergency Preparedness response and recovery subcommittee, for coming together with Ranking Member crenshaw and i to hold this hearing. We are here to discuss federal and state efforts to picker critical supplies and response to the coronavirus pandemic. First, i want to acknowledge that the federal Emergency Management agency, fema, who is put in charge of the federal governments response was asked to testify today. While fema is not here today, i understand that and miss straighter gaynor plans to appear before the full Committee Later this month. Im pleased to hear this because it is vital that we Work Together to face this challenge. I look forward to meeting with administrator gaynor and hearing what our witnesses have to share today to inform that discussion. Theres no denying that the coronavirus pandemic has presented unparalleled challenges. One of the greatest challenges has been securing adequate testing supplies and personal protective equipment, or ppe, such as gowns, gloves, surgical masks and and 95 respirators. A certain Global Demand for the supplies, most of which are produced overseas, costs caused severe shortages. Especially for those on the front lines. In response, the federal government distributed the limited supplies in the Strategic National stockpile. This caused states to find their own supplies to distribute two areas with the greatest need. As a result, competition within the United States intensified as states began competing against each other. The federal government and other buyers around the world. This competition for limited resources drove up prices and attracted new brokers into the marketplace that were inexperienced and unreliable. Buyers with less purchasing power such as smaller states and rural areas had greater difficulty obtaining supplies. Some states and major hospitals have been able to replenish supplies, but reports of shortages among Health Care Workers, especially those in nursing care settings, still exist. Demand for supplies is only expected to grow as several states continue to experience rapidly rising rates of new infections and hospitalizations. Public Health Officials also predict a second wave of infections will come this fall. We must all consider also consider the ppe needs of not Health Care Workers if we want to sexually reopen the economy. Therefore, its important to discuss Lessons Learned from the past six months to improve the procurement and distribution of critical needs and supplies in the future. This includes revisiting the appointment of fema as the elite of the federal response effort in mid march, more than six weeks after the Coronavirus White House Task force was formed. A delay that unquestionably put the agency at a disadvantage of executing such a formidable task. Fema is well versed in responding to disasters, but it has struggled to procure supplies in the wake of multiple disasters in the past. In a joint subcommittee hearing last may, we discussed longstanding challenges with femas process for bidding vendors and overseeing disaster contracts awarded by state and local governments. Im concerned that fema once again awarded contracts to vendors who cannot deliver during the pandemic. In one case, fema canceled a 55 Million Dollar contract for 10 million and 95 respirators after the company, which conducts Tactical Training and has no history of procuring medical equipment, failed to deliver the masks. Another case, fema warned states not to use testing equipment acquired under a 10 Million Dollar contract because it was believed to be contaminated. This company that produced the equipment was formed just six days before fema aborted the contract. I also worry whether Pandemic Response activities have already fatigued femas historically understaffed contracting workforce, which is concerning since were only one month into the 2020 Hurricane Season and entering an active wildfire season. I look forward to hearing from our Witnesses Today on their views of the most role in leading the federal response effort and how we can Work Together to improve the procurement and distribution of critical pandemic supplies. Thank you again for joining us today. Since we have a number of members joining today, i will be vigilant and watching the clock and ask that my colleagues be mindful of their Time Available for statements and questions. The chair now recognizes the Ranking Member of the subcommittee of oversight management and accountability, the gentleman from texas, mr. Crenshaw for an Opening Statement. Thank you chairwoman small and pain. Im pleased to participate in this hearing today. Todays hearing is to examine matters related to the management, distribution of medical supplies and response to the pandemic. This topic is of the utmost importance for our country and each of our states. My state of texas recently experienced a uptick in cases as well as 33 other states. Many are holding steady, but only three states saw a decline in number of cases last week. To see cases increasing, we must ensure that our Health Care Providers and First Responders have the equipment they need to provide treatment while protecting themselves exploring the spread of the virus. The size and scope of this response effort is unprecedented. Weve not experienced anything like this in the history of our country. Some experts have compare this to the outbreak of the spanish flu in 1918, but today, we are much more mobile society. Our economy and supply chain is much more interconnected in the world. We are using many of the same tools like social distancing, many of the tools Health Professionals are using today are not produced and United States. Because our pharmaceuticals are not produced domestically, we are competing for the rest of the world for the supplies we need to treat our people. Countries like china have a stranglehold on medical supply chain. We must take steps to regain control of the supply chain from the communist regime. This is especially important during a Global Pandemic. To make matters worse, theres evidence that china deliberately misled the world about the extent of the country while hoarding critical medical supplies and decreasing exports to the rest of the world. We know the true number if we had known the true number of individual infected in china, we wouldve stockpiled medical supplies and known they would have not been enough to meet demand started producing them earlier. Administration took steps to increase availability of necessary supplies. Fema was put in charge of distribution of medical supplies rather than hhs because of its logistical capabilities and relationship with state and local emergency managers. We established project our bridge to find medical supplies and quickly get them to where they are needed. The present use the defense production act to get u. S. Companies to join the fight against covid19. Ford, ge and General Motors stepped up and assisting the production of ventilators. Our, a u. S. Company that makes u. S. Hockey equipment, stopped creating hockey visors and start creating face shields for medical professionals. For cloth coverings became a necessity for millions americans, Company Started producing masks. Many distillers started producing handstand a ties or a set of alcohol. American companies are not just needing ppe and medical equipment demand but looking forward. In a month and a half, houstons megastar founder took this idea for a filter that can kill covid from an idea to a prototype. They tested and proven concept they kills 99. 8 of the virus. These are just a few of the examples of u. S. Companies stepping up to support our country during the crisis. Many other companies have donated portions of their profits to aid and in the fight against covid. We continue to learn more about this virus and the best ways to prevent its spread. We must continue to build our stockpile of medical supplies so our First Responders and medical practitioners have the supplies they need. I yield back. Thank you Ranking Member crenshaw. I now recognize the chairman of the subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness response and recovery. The gentleman from new jersey, mr. Payne, for an Opening Statement. Thank you madam chair. Its an honor and privilege to be with you and my colleagues here today. First, i would like to say that i hope everyone and their loved ones are staying safe and healthy. Also, my condolences to those who lost loved ones because of the coronavirus. I would like to thank chairwoman small and Ranking Member crenshaw of the oversight management and accountability subcommittee, for coming together with Ranking Member king and i to hold this hearing. I would also like to thank the witnesses for being here today to discuss pandemic challenges with the supplies and procurement. A topic that is so incredibly important for our country at this moment. For too many communities, the pandemic is continuing to get worse. The magnitude of this pandemic is devastating. It didnt have to be this way, but there was a clear lack of leadership. Most importantly, at the white house itself. A lack of leadership extended to the federal governments procurement strategy and those effects have been felt by states, local governments and frontline workers who are trying to contain covid19 around the country without the proper ppe or supplies. Instead of taking proactive steps early on to invoke the defense production act, build up our supply reserves and initiating a whole of Government Procurement strategy and quickly getting tests and supplies and other vital medical equipment out to communities. President trump was instead downplaying the threat of this virus and telling the American People than it was under control and was a problem that was going away. I hope its clear now that with 3 million cases in well over 130,000 deaths nationwide and daily cases on the rise, the virus was not and is still not under control. During the pandemic, states have been left to fend for themselves while dealing with a market there was an subscribed and unregulated. This led to chaos. The front lines with our Health Care Workers having to reuse masks or use trash bags as gowns in an effort to try to protect themselves. Efforts by the federal government to address supply shortages has also been marred with problems. These problems include the lack of coordination that have played the entire federal response. The initial response was disorganized, it waste valuable time that could have been used better to prepare for what was to come. These problems continue today. The head of the supply Chain Stabilization Task force recently testified that the federal government still does not have information on the state stockpiles of ppe or other supplies. Project airbridge, which has now been retired, but reports have stated in many states and cities were not aware whether supplies brought into the country drew project airbridge were coming into their jurisdictions. Further, some shipments of ppe to Nursing Homes around the country were reportedly inefficient supplies. Finally, federal government contracts for supplies were not vetted properly before being awarded. This includes a 10 Million Dollar contract for testing supplies. The agency then had to tell states not to use them because the supplies were produced in unsanitary conditions. Given famous history of meant failures, Congress Must conduct rigorous oversight to ensure past problems are fixed going forward. Neglecting to correct these mistakes will result in this unnecessary lives lost. An outcome that we all want to avoid. Getting it right as soon as possible is especially important as there are growing reports of ppe shortages. This as states see a steep increase in new cases. To explore these topics, im glad that we have such an esteemed panel of experts here to help shed light on how we can do better in procuring, and distributing supplies. Thank you very much and i yield back. Thank you chairman pain. The chair now recognizes the chairman of the full committee. The gentleman from mississippi. Mr. Thompson for an Opening Statement. Chairman thompson, if you would not mind putting yourself off mute . Nothing like being told. Thank you very much madam chair. First of all, let me thank everyone for being here. Like chairman pain indicated, i hope all as well. Its always good seeing you. Youve been a stellar person all your public career. The covid19 pandemic has put our nation in crisis. Today, the United States has reported over 3 million covid19 cases and well over 130,000 people have died from complications associated with the virus. Even as states continue to set daily records for infections and new hotspots begin to emerge, the nations top medical experts and scientists are predicting a second wave of covid19 infections. Obtaining and distributing critical supplies and medical equipment has proven to be among the most important and challenging factors in responding to covid19. American people are looking to the federal government for leadership and support as the nation navigates these troubling times. The absence of leadership from the white house has resulted in a lack of a clear coordinated federal procurement strategy and has caused complications and delays in states getting essential equipment. For example, President Trump told governors that the federal government is not supposed to be out there buying best amounts of items and then shipping. We are not a shipping clerk. That caused panic and chaos in the procurement process and reduced states abilities to acquire what they need. In an instant, states have to compete not only with each other but , but also with the rest of the world for these critical surprises. When fema took a larger role in a federal response six weeks after the pandemic started, its main responsibility was to improve the nations access to these critical supplies through innovative innovations like the supply Chain Stabilization Task force and project a bridge. However, it was unrealistic to think that fema could come in and manage a full blown crisis while planning for natural disasters. Also, doing it with a Contract Task force that has been overworked and underfunded over past years. States reported issues with communication surrounding equipment availability and delivery timeframes. Just last week, the governor of illinois called project airbridge and utter and complete failure in testimony before this committee. That assessment is uninspiring given the accounts of non federal volunteers led by jared kushner, being embedded in fema, to work on project a bridge. He further contributed to confusion over who was in charge. While the committee repeatedly asked for more information on project air bridge, fema has yet to provide the requested documents and information needed for us to do our oversight work. Though fema was the administrations choice for this mission because of its experience in disaster contracting and logistics, it has had a history of disaster contracting challenges. Infamous contracting fiascoes like the bronze star and tribute during the 2017 Hurricane Season, femas difficulty and getting its procurement responsibilities right during the height of disasters. Fema still struggles in this area, with the agency having to cancel a 55 Million Dollar contract in may for its failure to deliver any of the in 95 masks that the company promised. The company had no Prior Experience obtaining medical supplies or equipment and its Parent Company was bankrupt. The company should never have been awarded the contract in the first place. As covid19 cases continue to rise in states across the country, we must learn from our mistakes and adapt the federal response to better meet the needs of our communities and frontline workers. There is still time to get fema on track with this procurement process in hope that the nations preparedness posture will be much improved as we continue to battle the growing first wave of covid19 and prepare for a possible second wave in the fall. Im grateful to the witnesses for taking the time to be here today to contribute to this important discussion. With that madam chair, i yield back the remainder of my time. Thank you chairman thompson. Other members of the committee are reminded that under the committee rules, Opening Statements may be submitted for the record. Members are also reminded that the subcommittees will operate according to the guidelines laid out by the chairman and Ranking Member in their july 8th call. I now welcome our panel of witnesses and thank them for joining today. Our first witness is mr. Craig few gate who served as the fema administrator throughout the entirety of the obama serration. Emehe led them through 500 president ially declared major disasters and emergencies. Prior to leading fema, he headed the Florida Division of Emergency Management where he led the state for many years of intense disasters and hurricanes, before that he worked in Emergency Management at the local level in florida. Our second witness serves as director of the Governments Office of Emergency Services for the state of california. He was first appointed to the position in july, 2013, by Governor Brown and was reappointed by Governor Newsom in january, 2019. The director serves as the governments Homeland Security advisor and oversees statewide Public Safety Emergency Management an counterterrorism. He has more than 30 years of experience in Public Safety and government management at the local, state and federal level. Our final witness, mr. Chris curry, is director of Homeland Security and justice team at the Government Accountability office. These agencies work on national preparedness, Emergency Management and Critical Infrastructure protection issues. Mr. Curry has been with g. A. O. Since 2002 an has been the recipient of numerous Agency Awards including the Meritorious Service award in 2008. Without objection, the witnessfull statements will be inserted in the record. I now ask each witness to summarize his statement for five minutes, beginning with mr. Fugate. Thank you, madam chair, chairs and Ranking Members and committee. We could spend a lot of time talking about what went wrong with the responses. I want to introduce some ideas that may minimize these impacts later. It goes back to in your Opening Statement several key issues you hit. Fema was brought in late. A lot of this has to do is that fema is too often only seen as the agency to respond to states for Natural Hazards even though as the Homeland Security act as amended essentially gives the president to use fema in any crisis not just when theres a stafford act declaration. I think this is something that needs to be reinforced. If we are going to utilize fema as a crisis further strengthened and defined that its not that fema takes over. In fact, i still felt that c. D. C. Should have been the lead and fema supporting them. Just like we supported usaid in response to the haiti earthquake. That we supported health and Human Services Family Services during the unaccompanied children on the border. And as we supported c. D. C. In the ebola crisis. Fema is not just about hurricanes, wildfires or earthquakes. Were all they are an allhazard agency. Strengthening that would further streamline federal response to future crises. It isnt that fema takes over but fema help miss agencies who do not do Crisis Response full time. Who do not have the relationship with the state Emergency Management teams. And often find themselves struggling in those first days, first weeks to begin that response. The second part of this, i think is the stafford act. Too often fema is defined by what you can declare under the stafford act. Under the stafford act for major president ial declarations, congress has enumerated what would be a disaster. Pandemics are absent. So are Cyber Attacks. In many cases Certain Terrorist Attacks unless they involve explosion or fire could also be excluded. I think by amending the stafford act, adding pandemics, Cyber Attacks and other events to that so we are no longer uncertain about femas role could have turned off much of the individual [audio problems] dealing with how to provide everything from disaster employment, food stamp, crisis counseling, legal assistance, all things that could have been turned on in that disaster. The third area that i think we need to address goes back to this whole supply chain. I i like to say that efficiency is the enemy of resiliency. What youre seeing in this pandemic, just in time local Delivery System has produced very efficient, lowcost supplies, particularly to health Care Industry. What were seeing in this pandemic is only the tip of what could happen to other industries where we have Critical Infrastructure or communications, power systems, water supplies, Treatment Systems across a whole vast definition of what Homeland Security has defined as Critical Industries that are dependent on International Global supply chains. That has increased our vulnerabilities and competition but also lack of ready access. I think we need to look at increasing the capabilities of Domestic Production. This will not be based upon a Business Model that says we get the best value. It is about ridding the inefficiencies either through tax credits or purchasing power. But if you wait until a crisis occurs and then discover that your supply chain that you need for Critical Infrastructure or supplies is located in another part of the world and now theres disruptions either intentional or competition or the fact that disasters can occur elsewhere and disrupt our supply chain, we are seeing with the pandemic how loss of domestic capability of production is affecting our ability to respond. As we look at this, just like our defense industry, we dont outsource building our submarines, why are we outsourcing those supplies that are critical to key infrastructures that we need to have up and running . I think again congress cant in many cases enforce that through the ability of tax credit, purchasing power. When you tell fema to go find whatever you can find, you get the results we got. Thank you, madam chair. Thank you for your testimony. I now recognize our next witness to summarize his statement for five minutes. Good morning, chairman payne, chairwoman torres small Ranking Members of the subcommittee. Thank you for inviting me to testify on the federal governments personnel protective equipment procurement. And also distribution. I also discuss the state of californias response to the covid19 pandemic, particularly the States Strategy for procurement and distribution of lifesaving ppe which has been the largest logistics operation in the history of the state of california. On behalf of the state of california i want to begin by extending my sincere gratitude to all of the federal agencies who have provided coordination assistance and funding in helping california respond to the covid19 pandemic. Along with most of the nation and the world, california has been severely impacted by the covid19 pandemic. As of july 13, the city has 336,508 cases and tragically lost 7,087 lives to the disease. However california began dealing with indirect effects of this pandemic long before any other state. In january, when the state coordinated and accepted flights of repatriated citizens from china, shortly after, california coordinated with the u. S. Department of health and Human Services in an operation to safely disembark and quarantine all passengers of the grand princess cruise ship. In january of 2020, as the covid caused the entire city of wuhan in china to quarantine, california rose to meet the need when the state department began repatriation flights to bring american citizens home. We have worked with the state department, department of defense, department of home land security and health and Human Services agency and other federal agencies and state agecies to assist in the coordination of these missions. On february 1, there were six confirmed positive covid19 cases in california. By late february the state enhanced its capabilities and dedicated Covid Response after the first case of Community Transmission in the state. By march 4, the governor declared a state of emergency in anticipation of increasing rates of the covid19 infection. At that time, resource requests for p. P. E. Were accelerating, prompting the state Operation Center to begin distributing the 21 million n95 masks and one million surgical masks we had in our reserves. On march 6, we received notification from the u. S. Department of health and Human Services that the grand princess cruise ship was heading to california from hawaii. The grand princess normally ported in San Francisco initially went to mexico before coming back to california to offload and pick up passengers. Before taking off for hawaii. There were an unknown number of sick people on the ship. We assisted with several High Profile Missions to the grand princess while at sea, including transporting medical staff and necessary p. P. E. , testing of staff and badges passengers. And several evacuations of sick individuals. This was a major operation that demanded california provide management support and large quantities of Logistical Support to health and Human Services, the lead federal agency including medical personnel and p. P. E. At this time our partners at fema were very responsive and provided a much as much assistance as possible given they were not yet the lead federal agency. Following an extensive effort involving multiple levels of government the state developed a plan for the ship to divert to the port of oakland. The first batch of passengers disembarked on march 9, and the last batch on march 16 in a meticulous process to protect the health of everyone involved. Citizens were transported to quarantine at Traverse Air Force base and other sites established by the state to ensure no covid19 spread in the community before they returned home. During the repatriation and the grand princess operation, it became clear that health and Human Services had trouble with maintaining the tactical scope and scale to respond to the issues that arose during these missions. All deployed staff from health and Human Services had specific purposes that were inflexible or unable to respond to evolving needs in a timely way for challenges we were addressing. Recently we have heard that the federal government considered placing h. H. S. Back in the lead coordination role for the pandemic. This is concerning as we would believe it would unnecessarily complicate and slow down the response. Overall, the most significant challenge of the federal governments response to pandemic has been lack of coordinated centralized approach to secure, obtain and distribute p. P. E. The federal governments response to the ongoing p. P. E. Crisis should be characterized as challenging and unsuccessful in a Global Pandemic with Worldwide Competition for critical lifesaving material and strategy to leverage federal buying power is nonexistent. I apologize, but your time has expired. If you could summarize the last of your comments . The bottom line is that overall the efforts of obtaining and coordinating on a National Scale talking about p. P. E. And the needs to get it in a timely fashion, setting up competition where states were competing with each other and states were competing with the federal government for limited commodities that were absolutely necessary for life saving is not a position we should be in as a state or a country. This is problematic. And supply chains and having capacity to have domestic supply when you dont have those capabilities, the defense production act in a real way to be able to adequately and properly provide p. P. E. Is critical. In this case that hasnt happened. Thank you for your testimony. I now recognize mr. Curry to summarize his statement for five minutes. Thank you chairwoman torres small. Chairman payne. Chairman thompson. Ranking member crenshaw. Other members that are here today. Appreciate the opportunity to be here to talk about g. A. O. s work on the response to covid19 so far. Just three weeks ago we issued our first report on the overall federal response to covid19, the report covers over 2 trillion in federal spending and programs. Some of those programs which are brand new. And on our scale that we have never seen before. Our folks have been working around the clock to provide oversight of this funding and our goal as always is to provide accurate, fair, and balanced information to you, the congress, and also the American People. This pandemic and the scale of the federal response is not even closely comparable to any disaster or Public Health emergency the country has faced. Weve been looking at this for over two decades really since the anthrax attacks in early 2000. Weve seen a marshaling of resources and a distribution of supplies that eight months ago we would have thought was impossible. For example, for the first time in history, every state in the union, d. C. , most territories and several tribes all have federal disaster declarations at the same time. Thats never happened before. I think its important that we recognize the federal, state and local officials responding to covid19 around the clock and the millions of Health Care Workers on the frontlines. Let me just be clear that there have been major challenges. However, unlike other disasters where we can only look back at the response, we are still responding to the pandemic and will be for a while. As a result we have a unique ability in this case to make course corrections now, to address rising covid19 cases, and looming challenges this fall. When flu season hits and Health Experts expect covid19 to get even worse than it is now. I want to outline some of the channels that we have seen in our work over the last few months. Not to point fall or focus on the past but to help figure out how we get better as we move forward. First its clear that existing preparedness and response structures and resources were everwhelmed. For example, we now know that the Strategic National stockpile is not adequate to cover nationwide gaps in our Public Health system and underinvestments in that system for several decades. Its also more clear now that prior efforts to plan and prepare for a large pandemic were both one, insufficient, and two, the gaps they did identify and who was supposed to address those gaps with were not fixed in time for covid19. To its credit, fema was brought in as youve said and others have said mid response to lead the massive logistical effort of supply acquisition and distribution. Given these gaps, new command structures were established, comprised of federal agencies toi manage more the effort. Historical efforts to procure supplies such as project air bridge and the use of the defense production act to manufacture things like respirators or ventilateor components were undertaken. However as we reported a few weeks ago its clear theres been confusion about one, who is exactly making resource decisions at the federal level, and how these are being prioritized for distribution to state and local governments. Again, this is not surprising given this scale of the response but as new supply and testing shortages arise now we have to get more clear about roles an responsibilities moving forward between the various levels of government. Second, coordination and communication have to get better. Weve heard from states and others that it has not been clear what federal resources provided when they were and how they were prioritized. This has to work both ways too. As states and the private sector build their stockpiles and capability, the federal government needs to know what resources they have so they can understand where the gaps are and do advanced planning so those gaps can be filled when supply distributions ramp up again here soon as we get closer to the fall. Last, the federal government has tremendous contracting resources and capability. Its one of the key strengths it brings to help states and local governments in these types of disasters or emergencies. Weve reported that the use of advanced contracts and coordination of these contracts helps states to avoid the need for noncompetitive contracts after disasters. It also helps to avoid contract awards to companies we later find out are unable to deliver on their promises. Fema also needs to ensure that they have adequate contract staff to handle this load, an issue thats been a challenge and will be a challenge as we get further into Hurricane Season. Real quickly, the last issue i want to point out is on after action reporting. Years and years of work have shown us that after action reports sometimes are not completed and when they are, the gaps they identify are never followed up on. Its going to be critical to every federal agency in this response, which is almost all of them, to follow up on these actions. Thank you very much, i look forward to your questions. Thank you for your testimony, mr. Curry. I deeply appreciate it. I thank all the witnesses for their testimony. I remind each member theyll have five minutes to question the witnesses. Without objection, ms. Jackson lee will be permitted to question witnesses as well. I will begin with questions. We have heard that the market p. P. E. And other medical equipment was difficult to navigate due to camp decision from other states and no guidance from the federal government. As the lead federal agency, what do you think femas role should have been in providing a National Procurement strategy to avoid unnecessary competition and bidding wars between states . For fema this is brandnew. We dont get equipment on this scale. The learning curve is very painful. I think probably the biggest problem i saw early on is nobody was thinking big numbers. If youre going to use the defense production act you have to use it early. The problem is, there was not certainty it would get that bad. We can go back to h1n1 in 2009. We prepared for a much worse pandemic but the u. S. Was basically spared some of the impacts other countries had. We didnt have a big number. We didnt turn off things early because the indicaters by the time it indicated we were already behind the power curve. Then it was a mad scramble. Everybody trying to get everything with competition. Thank you. Do you have anything to add . In terms of femas role. I agree with mr. Fugate. I dont think anybody at the federal level expected the pandemic to be this bad and as you said this is why fema was called in late in the game. They were the only ones left that had resources anywhere close to being able to handle Something Like this. I have to go back to preparedness. We found over and over again, for example in 2019, the exercise was conducted that was very similar to a pandemic situation like. This one of the key vulnerabilities identified was the supply distribution an prioritization would be a mess. So we didnt take the steps and didnt devote the resources to address that. Its very difficult to address these things before Something Like this actually happens. But we do have the information to do it. And i think now, as i said in my opening, this response is still ongoing. All is not lost. Were not just looking back. We can address these issues now for the future. Thank you mister curry. California has an incredible diverse population and several Rural Communities, similar to my state of new mexico. Can you talk about whether there are inequalities in the availability of supplies within the state and how you ensure that rural areas are adequately equipped to combat covid19 . Thats a great question. One of the major efforts we put forth is to ensure that our Rural Communities and areas where maybe communities that had a lack of direct access to these commodities were sourced and supplied efficiently and effectively. Particularly smaller hospitals. We would wrap around those Smaller Health care systems with not only p. P. E. But personnel to ensure that they had the capability to sustain themselves. But look, you know, its a big state. Part of the effort was to initially decompress hospitals. So we part of that was building in these federal and field medical stations and other kinds of field alternative care sites to be able to help those communities. In Rural California and in far north california where we have a very diverse populations, both of those were areas to ensure we had enough resources. Thank you. To follow up on that, part of the diversity is Indian Tribes. Fema assistance for covid19 requires a 25 match from states and the Indian Tribes at a time when the virus is drying up state and tribal revenues and leading to budget shortfalls. In the remaining time can you speak about the impact the virus is having and start with whether waiving the cost share would enhance tribes ability to respond . Tribes are unique in that they have the opportunity to, you know, either acquire assistance from the federal government directly or in some cases come to the state for assistance. But lets be clear. Waving the costs here, this is such a massive complicated events. It is really a marathon. The fiscal impact across the board as we have seen and across other states in the country is massive. If any event would be required to waive, it would be this one. And it certainly could be beneficial to tribes and local and state governments as well. Thank you. I yield the remainder of my time. I now recognize the Ranking Member of the subcommittee on oversight management, the gentleman from texas, mr. Crenshaw for questions. Thank you. Thank you everyone for being here. This question is for them i want to get a sense for, looking without looking at hindsight, we have to understand what is truly possible to change in a realistic way. So along those lines, when it was clear certain items needed to be needed as such as ppe and other supplies, february 20 for the president asked congress to fight covid, it was delayed at least a week after requested. Congress passed three bills in march that were signed into law for the Coronavirus Task force, what additional action should the federal government have taken . When was there a fork in the road where we went left where we should have gone right . That would be a critical way to assess what we couldve done better and lessons for the future. My observations, and again this is my opinion, we never looked at the worstcase big number scenarios. My experience is that we are always trying to make it felt instead of looking at how its going to be and what would be the potential shortfalls. And as you find with pandemics what you are waiting for certainty, you are too late. We were not looking at big enough numbers to see what we are doing, with the potential demand was. Honestly, id rather much testify to you that i got too much stuff that i run out. I think thats something we really have to enforce here, we have to have too much or where you are always going to run out. Are you referring to it seems like as mr. Curry stated before, youre not referring to a decision made the last few months. Youre referring to decisions made over the last few years . Look at our stockpile as a first package, never designed to respond to a pandemic. It was designed to be the first thing out the door. But we have to understand what the demand signals. With a novel virus there was no telling. Essentially you start taking guarantees. How are we gonna starts giving ppp to our Health Care Workers across the states. Do you have any insight as to why after h1n1 are 95 masks were down 75 stockpile. If the numbers im hearing are correct. And they were never replenished. Is there any good reason why that is . Even though funding overall increased for the National Stockpile . There were a lot of decisions made that it took time to rebuild. Weve identified that stockpile was only supposed to be a push package and it a pandemic that would have to be augmented by production, purchasing and ultimately the defense production. Sticking with you mr. Few gate, does fema have the necessary authorities under the stafford act . I would add pandemics to the definition. A senator tried to introduce this in 2008. Theres also Congressional Research report to Congress Called whether or not fema can declare pandemics under the stafford act. Ultimately its always going to be a decision of the president. But because its not listed it tends to be a hindrance that its not stated to prepare for this one thing thats interested me as we have a debate over response, i can hear from states sometimes that they feel there was not enough of a National Plan and i hear that they werent given the flexibility they needed to say do their testing planning the way they would have liked to. As far as the statefederal response or relationship, are we still basically on the right track . What lessons can we learn . What should be shifted in that relationship . Having worked on both sides of this, i will tell you i see the federal government as multiple tools for funding and as states, territories and tribes implement it to their specific constituency. What works in florida wont work in north dakota. But we should be using the same standards and guidelines to implement those programs giving flexibility to the governors for implementation. From my point of view, that seems to be how its always supposed to have happened and how its basically been happening now obviously with some problems here and there. Ill agree. I think ive heard calls for a federal czar to take over and run all this. I would defer to that point. One person in d. C. Is not going to be able to make this work. What we need to have but we need to have consistent guidance on the federal side. So states can implement this. Thank you. I yield back. The chair recognizes the chair of the subcommittee, the gentleman new jersey, mr. Payne, for questions. Thank you, madam chairwoman. Id like to thank the gentlelady from new mexico. Mr. Fugate, its always a pleasure. We appreciate your service to our country. Do you believe fema should retain lead of the federal governments response to coronavirus . I found this fascinating when they put fema in the lead role. Fema are the ultimate support agency. Either were supporting governors and their response or the lead federal agency that has jurisdiction. This goes back to the challenger disaster, where fema was in support of nasa putting fema in the lead role i think we put a lot of expertise c. D. C. Should have had that fema could have supported. I think femas role as the nations crisis manager it should be enforced but i think it should be seen that we want to make sure that the lead agency of jurisdiction, the Legal Authority and the expertise are taking that lead and supporting it and hopefully making it more successful. Do you want to add anything . I agree. Not necessarily fema being the lead agency but being the lead Coordination Agency at the federal agency. Much like weve done here in california, our health and Human Services is the lead agency dealing with the pandemic, my office is providing the overarching coordination. I bring all the other state departments together. I interface between the state and federal government. I ensure were all rowing in the same direction so we are not wasting time and were not stovepiped in our effort or in our commitment of resources. So thats really, i think, from the national perspective, fema brings a great role and they understand emergencies on a National Scale. They have relationships with all the state directors and they go down to the local. All disasters are local. We have to look at it from that perspective. How these events are impacting local governments. And state governments. So i think fema has that ability to look at the big picture and make sure that action plans and the direction of the federal government is in the best interest and support of state and local government. Thank you. Mr. Curry, what impact does constantly shifting responsibility have on the federal government failing to effectivelying more . I think the roles and responsibilities being clear is critical in this case. I think just to go off what some of the prior responses to your questions, i think we were victims of past successes and other situations. Typically in situations like h1n1, ebola, zika, everything weve had over the last 50, 60 year, the h. H. S. And c. D. C. Has been able to handle the response to emergencies. Because of that, the structures we have had in place to deal with pandemics and Public Health emergencies is focused on their role which is appropriate, they have the medical expertise. Whats clear in this case they do not have the logistical capability that was required in a large pandemic. So moving forward, i think the key is going to be to figure out what new structure, new processes, roles and responsibilities need to be in place to handle the rest of this pandemic and hopefully we dont have one but one in the future as well. Thank you. How do you think it hindered the ability to properly develop and execute procurement strategies for covid19, given staffs work on this issue. What is the number one thing that you think fema needs to address . A couple come to mind in this case. The first, ill throw out the contracting issue which has been a huge challenge. Chairman thompson pointed this out in his Opening Statement. After hurricane maria, we had challenges trying to fill needs for tarps. In a huge disaster this is typical where youve exhausted in a huge disaster this is very typical where youve exhausted all your preexisting advanced contracting so you go out looking for anyone who can fill those things. Its not surprising that you come across contractors who dont have the capability. We have to get better at working with the state on advanced contracting. The committee will reconvene. The chair recognizes for five minutes the gentleman from louisiana, mr. Higgins. Thank you madam chairwoman. Let me say that i very much admire and greatly respect you. You have been the face of calm and reason during this technological challenge. Its very clear to me and to my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, im quite sure, why the people of your district have placed their faith in you. That being said, im going to be submitting my Opening Statement and question in writing. Im being pulled to another congressional obligation. At this time. And ill be yielding the balance of my time to the Ranking Member. But before i do so, let me say that despite the best efforts of our colleagues, i say again that i call upon the majority to consider allowing the house to return to regular order, voting in person, lets step away from proxy voting and Remote Committee appearance because again, despite the best efforts, the Technology Just does not is not quite there yet. And i would say that we need to be in person regardless, but during a time of emergency it could be foreseen that this is required. However, ill be we have learned a great deal. However, ill be, ill be continuously calling for the return to regular order. It is within the constitutional parameters that i believe we should serve. You have been fantastic during this hearing and this challenge. I apologize to our witnesses. Ill believe it yielding the balance of my time to the Ranking Member. I yield now. Thank you, representative higgins. I couldnt agree more. I think the way you presented your case is exactly right. This is not a hit on this subcommittee at all. This is a hit on the entire congress. It has to stop. We all know so well, were all common sense people. We all know we could do this in person and show the American People that we have a modicum of courage. Just a little bit. It would be easy. We dont have to all congregate in there at the same time. Usually we dont anyway. Most of us watch from our office and then go in when its our turn to ask questions. We could easily socially distance. We could wear masks. We could take the proper precautions. We could easily do this. Yet our house of representatives has chosen not to. This isnt the first time weve had technical problems. Of course well have technical problems. Many other committees have had it, weve had it in this committee as well. This is not the chairwomans fault. This is leadership from the top. And this is more than just about technical problems. Its about the ability to demonstrate to the American People that we have just a little bit of courage. Just enough to actually show them that we are willing to take she slightest amount of risk to do our jobs so we can actually hear our witnesses instead of the garbled robotic mess that it sounded like at times when i was trying to listen to them. We could actually do our jobs. But weve sort of reversed what it means to have a sense of duty in this country. Whereas it used to mean we looked up to our heroes who overcame adversity and looked back on their hardships and said look what i did, look what i overcame, now we seem to elevate victimhood as a virtue. Look at the problems we face, look at us. We must hide. Thats virtuous. Thats heroic. Not heroic. We look like fools. We need to stop. We need to do better. We can easily do this. We all know how. We all know we could. I think that we should be asking our leadership to put us back into congress, in person, stop the vote by proxy. We know we can do this safely. We learned enough about this virus. We can do this by now. We can demonstrate to the American People that we are in this together and that were willing to do our duty and do our job. It is as simple as that. This is a highly unnecessary technical mess that weve involved ourselves in. And i hope we stop. I yield back the remainder of my time. Thank you, mr. Ranking member. The chair recognizes for five minutes the gentlewoman from illinois, ms. Underwood. Thank you, madam chair. As a Public Health nurse i have been disapointed and horrified by this administrations failure to equip our Health Care Professionals and others on the frontlines of the pandemic with the supplies they need to stay safe while doing their jobs. 13 of my colleagues from the illinois delegation joined my letter to the president back in march urging the administration to lead a coordinated National Plan to procure and deliver p. P. E. Where it was needed most. Even in march we were already getting tearful phone calls from illinois nurses who had worn the same single use mask for five days straight. This is unacceptable. Yet somehow four months later we find ourselves still unable to obtain and distribute essential supplies to meet our basic needs. This is a clossal failure of leadership with truly life and death consequences. Im glad our witnesses are here today to help us figure out what went so wildly wrong and discuss improvements that need to be made. Mr. Fugate, as you know, one of the most important supplies for Health Care Workers is the n95 mask which protects the wearer from inhaling the virus. In march the white house promised to deliver 300,000 n95 masks to my state of illinois. When the shipment arrived this boxes were found to instead contain surgical masks which are looser and do not provide anywhere near the same level of protection for the wearer as the n95 masks. Based on your experience overseeing Emergency Management at the federal level what concerns does this type of mixup raise for you about this administrations coordination of the National Response to this pandemic . I dont think its so much a mixup, i think its what they had available. It goes back to my original concerns that in facing a novel virus we never looked a how big the numbers needed to be. I think thats why we were not making decisions early on such as increasing Domestic Production of n95 mask, reprioritizing that system. We just never took the steps to go, how big is this . We always adjusted based on whats available. And tried to increase that. But we never got to what was going to be the big number and still see those impacts today. Illinois is currently in phase four of their data driven reopening strategy. As more and more local businesses resume or increase operation and as we prepare to safely reopen schools this fall we need p. P. E. An its only going to increase. How should the administration be preparing to meet the increasing need for p. P. E. Across the country . It goes to, what is the number are we planning against . How much can Domestic Production ramp up . What can we get from the International Supply chain . Whats the difference for delta . And how do we close that gap. We know n95s are critical for Health Care Workers. For others, surgical masks or lesser grade protection is actually meeting the c. D. C. Guidance. It comes back to what is the big number we have to plan against . Whats our capability domestically, whats our International Supply capability . Whats the difference and what steps can we take to close those gaps. The administrations own fill your to provide material another challenge our frontline workers and leaders have had to contend with is fraud. A journalist broke a story about repackaging of nonmedical grade mask to remove the medical use prohibited warning and sold those for use in hospitals. When the reporter contacted Homeland Security they replied only that they were trying to determine if any violations exist or if mishandling occurred, end quote. Mr. Fugate can you please explain why this is so dangerous and what role does a selffederal response play in preventing this . This goes back to when you have shortfalls in critical supplies, people will attempt to use that to provide products that may not meet the standards. As we saw with that investigation, that gray market area is always clear what the violations were. If we had better handle on Domestic Production, more regulated, i think we could address concerns. But at the time fema and others were going after procuring, almost all of that was done electronically. It wasnt until you had products showing up that they found it it wasnt what they thought they were ordering. At the end of the day scammers will take advantage of needs. We see scammers providing p. P. E. In the middle of a pandemic. The responsibility should not be on consumers to authenticate their p. P. E. I yield back. Thank you. The chair recognizes for five minutes the gentleman from north carolina, mr. Bishop. Thank you, chairman torres small, very much. I want to follow up mr. Fugate on the question ms. Underwood just asked. There seems to be, i had the occasion to ask a question of governor pritsker, there seems to be a chorus of condemnation of the administration for not having an overall coordinated response. And it seems to be mostly connected to the question of how much p. P. E. Has been available. You cant just wish p. P. E. Into existence and put it in the right spot. Isnt that correct . That is absolutely correct. And you just explained in response to ms. Underwoods question that having quantity of p. P. E. To meet a sudden huge need is a logistics problem, that youve got to get Production Capacity in place if its not sufficient, youve got to add to it. Youve got to figure out from a disparate number of economic actors across our economy and maybe the economy around the globe how to get items produced that dont currently exist and then get them delivered to the right place, correct . Yes, sir. And is it necessarily so that any federal administration, yours or the current one, faced with an unprecedentedly large one is necessarily going to get the Problem Solved faster by taking control of the entire market through the defense production act. That turned out to be our only option. It is a drastic tool and has lots of disruptions. However, what we found was because we had built a health care system, it was going to take a draconian tool like the defense production act to even begin. It was not going to be a Rapid Response to it. It had to be turned on relatively early. By the time the numbers did justify the action, we were too far behind. As we had explored this, this production act early, your strategy became one to meet demand. If there was not a need for it, big disruptions. It is not a precise tool. It goes back to the whole issue of there is no slack in the system for health care. That exasperates what we are seeing now. There was not even reserves to start with in most of the Healthcare Health Care Industry because everyone is just they do not prepare for this. And the federal government gets the fault for this. I appreciate your candor. The issue is one of many years in the making. Its unfortunately very counterproductive to go try and assess blame on that. The decisions are what they are. The resource allocation issues existed for many years. It seems to persist, the notion, as you say, it would be your only tool but not necessarily in the short term would it mean that you could be sure from that Decision Point at the beginning of the crisis if you were going to produce more in the short term by using that than me and allowing Market Mechanisms to function. Isnt that so . No, sir. Market mechanisms are in the situation. Doesnt return to shareholders. An inefficient system would have a lot more capacity ramp up. It does not start up with manufacturing. The first thing, which was early on, epa gives the federal government to deter very large quantities and prioritize those products being domestically produced or coming into the country to where they are needed most and that could happen immediately with the dpa. We used it during Superstorm Sandy to get interpreters. It is a tool that gives you an immediate response. It ultimately gives the ability to redirect industry to meet strategy that otherwise would not have been met if you only went to a capital system. It has not built that capacity. Theres no reason to have excess capacity unless you have some incentives. We are not going to build in the tools to ensure protection exists. You are talking about a longterm incentive solution that would build more capacity to be in place over the longterm. Correct . Yes, sir. Pandemics are one example of our Global Supply chain having Critical Infrastructure when we defend upon Global Supply chains. Suppliers may not always share our views and interests. Thank you. The chair now recognizes for five minutes the gentlewoman from california. Thank you, madam chairwoman. Thank you to our panelists for being here today. As i heard the testimony, i am a little surprised to be hearing so much of how wonderful the response was. Or how we couldnt have done better. I read quite a bit differently. I read a lot more about the administrations failures early on. Late january, we had dr. Bright. Warning about the lack of ppe, those calls went ignored. We had the president basically saying this thing was going to go away. It was going to disappear. Making the mask very politicized. There has been a lot of failures with this administration, which is why i think it is so critical we have these hearings and we make sure we do not repeat what has happened here and that we be honest with the American People because honesty will save lives even if we do not like what the outcome is going to be or what peoples fears are. We have to address those. I want to direct my first question to you. As part of the response to homelessness during covid19, fema has committed to reimburse 50 to 75 of expenses for shelter and temporary housing through their Public Assistance Program category b, some local governments and agencies like the Los Angeles Homeless Services authority have expressed challenges with the fema program such as not knowing when the program will be extended for the coming months. Along the same lines, they have been told that it could take four years to five years for localities to receive fema reimbursements. In your experience as the former administrator, is there anything fema could be doing to better notify localities if programs will expire or be extended . Yes, this goes back to, and i am sure you can amplify this, is if fema is given the authority they are at the direction of the president. The white house would have to concur. They can give guidance to states what the programs are, what the likelihood as far as reimbursement goes, yes, it can be a long time. It can also be done in two weeks, which we did in hurricane isaac and the city of new orleans with their overtime. Fema does not have to take there has to be an understanding that the faster fema needs money, the greater risk of errors, the potential requirement to seek reimbursements back. The other thing is the cost share is something that should be factored in. They are going left at 75 federal. The cost share going up to 100 may also be required in those jurisdictions that are seeing the impact of covid19 demand as well as reduction in income. Thank you, sir. Along the same lines, last week, the mayor of mississippi testified that they are still waiting on money after a tornado caused major damage to the city. That was six years ago. Can we expect localities to wait this long for fema reimbursements and how can we speed up the process to ensure local governments could receive their reimbursements . We were doing reimbursements and are still doing reimbursements for hurricane katrina. We are doing a billion dollar in my last year on wastewater Treatment Systems. That can take a while. More concerned about the immediate cost, which is the response cost. Fema should be moving that money out very quickly. Congress has provided the funding. This may be something sometimes, we get so fearful of making mistakes and slow the process down with bureaucracy instead of focusing on getting money out quickly and cleaning up later with controls in place. Sometimes, there is such a fear that we we never seem to get the money out quickly. Thank you, sir. California was one of the first states managing the coronavirus, especially as it received repatriation flights and returning cruise ships when the outbreak began. Can you tell us some more about the evolution of your coordination with the federal government on a response effort, and did you notice a difference once fema took over as a lead . Thanks for the question. California was engaged early on when the first repatriation flights were brought back in. We worked with the department of state initially and then the health and Human Services agency. First we sent out a Repatriation Center in the airport. In southern california, ontario. Knowing pretty quickly that that will be sufficient. We needed brick and mortar facilities to keep people separated. That was our first indication that the virus happening in china members that were coming back could be potentially sick. So we worked to get brickandmortar barracks at march air force base initially for the repatriation. It extended into Travis Air Force base air station. I appreciate it. I apologize. The time has expired. The chair now recognizes the gentleman from new york, miss clark. Thank you very much, madam chair. Let me thank our Ranking Member, mr. Crenshaw and the congressman of new jersey. For the leadership that they are showing. Let me thank our expert witnesses as well. Being a new yorker, i think i have a very unique view into the response of the administration. At the beginning of the covid19 pandemic, i find a letter calling on the white house to revoke the defense production act to meet the shortfall of ppe and other official supplies, other clinical supplies facing my district. The people of new york city were hit first by this pandemic. As we cried out for ppe and ventilators, our pleas were met with a collective shrug from the administration. By the time the defense production act the limited way in which it was utilized was finally invoked, frankly, it was too late. As the case numbers begin to rise again across this nation, we are once again finding this administration, i believe, asleep at the wheel. We have had months to prepare. Comprehensive Contact Tracing is still far from a reality. And even basic supplies are in short supply. Fema repeatedly touted air bridge as a Success Story in accelerating the importation of critical ppe. Fema has indicated that at least 50 of those supplies were directed to hotspot areas. There has been a serious lack of transparency to confirm this actually occurred despite repeated requests. We have yet to receive information of where the supplies went and other basic details like how long it took to coordinate each flight. I will tell you that, you know, it is important to have this transparency because we are getting word on the ground, particularly in the height of the pandemic, that redirecting critically needed supplies that were intended for one portion of the nation to the other portions of the nation. I dont know whether that is true or not, but having transparency about what degree would answer those questions my first question is for the director. How effective was the air bridge in helping to meet your state, supply needs . Were you given any insight into where the supplies went, whether a county was deemed to be a hotspot for the sake of the program . To better coordinate the states efforts . Thanks for the question. Operation air bridge eventually became a helpful tool. Initially, it was not coordinated with the states. It was not communicated effectively. We did not know where ppe would be distributed to and quite frankly, the air bridge effort actually enhanced the competition by which the states had to deal with. Airbridge cornered the market in any available ppe that we could possibly get. I think in the end, if it was a more coordinated and communicated effort and that ppe was brought in as an essential capability we could all benefit by, it would have worked much better, but unfortunately, it did not work that way. All right. I want to echo the sentiments of my colleagues. We appreciate your years of service, your dedication, and your focus. In many respects, all of my colleagues have indicated, you know, you were sort of blindsided by the breadth and depth of what we had to deal with as a nation concerning the coronavirus and its spread. How does air bridge compare to your experience establishing publicprivate partnerships while at fema . During Superstorm Sandy, one of our challenges was getting trucks into the area quickly. President obama held a Conference Call where he told the companies we have got equipment on the west coast but it will take us a week or more to get it to the east coast. Can you help us . Fema coordinated with the transportation command. From the time of that call to the first touchdown of those trucks was 24 hours. We worked with the private sector. We thought of the private sector as part of the team. We had assets to move equipment from the private sector to achieve an outcome which was to get utilities out faster for Superstorm Sandy. I yield back. Thank you, madam chair. I yield back. Thank you, madam chair. I yield back. Thank you. The chair now recognizes for five minutes the gentlewoman from texas. Thank you very much, madam chair, for your kindness and generosity and yielding to me. I am here in one of the major hotspots of covid19. We are not really seeing an end, which i think is the uniqueness of covid19. Those in science and medicine have understood it is not a virus that they control the virus controls us. You know the basic elements of it is the initiatives that we have of cleanliness, sanitizing, gloves. Eyewear has come into play. We suffered greatly in logistics and equipment in being prepared. We suffered greatly with no ppe. We were fighting and i really mean it, fighting for masks. We were seemingly on markets that were impossible to penetrate in terms of trying to get ppe, and of course, the big one was test kits. I would hear from my colleagues across the nation, where are my test kits . I cannot get any, i would like to hear again, in light of texas [indiscernible] 6000 deaths here in houston. Number of deaths that we have as our numbers continue to grow. I am walking through a hospital right now. Getting the military walking to the hospital, where a military team will be coming in terms of staffing. Can you speak to the absolute crucial messness of a strategic plans, particularly on unknown disasters like the covid19 and the importance of early on developing a plan for equipment, which would include free testing, which i understand that people in florida are fighting to get tests. Thank you, congresswoman. It may sound trite, what i have learned in disasters is that by the time you know how bad something is its a little late to get started. I learned this a long time ago. It is a simple process. It works for me. The first thing is to find a disaster, think big. How bad could it be . You have got to start ordering resources and personnel for that event and looking at shortfalls in capacity. You need to go fast. The more precision, the better informed the information, the slower you get. The last part is to be smart about it. The numbers start coming in, adjust. Hopefully, you are adjusting downward. You never get time back in a disaster. Again, i was, you know as far as being unforeseen. I actually helped set up an exercise back in january in the state of florida. I think we have had a lot of missed opportunities. Nobody wants to talk about what didnt workwe also need to consider Something Like a National Transportation Safety Board Committee that is not partisan to review these types of events. Learn lessons so they do not become lessons observed but are actually being implemented in the changes to change future outcomes. If i could, very quickly, my research with the Homeland Security committee hearing, was that the administration were aware of covid19 as early as upped over 2019, which means we shouldve have long since had some kind of discernible plan, there are two issues that i would like you to comment on. I know already you are a great servant. But the issue of test kits, that became almost a crisis proportion where people were literally in the streets trying to get test kits. Begging for test kits. It was unbelievable. It was different cities trying to get test kits. You have something that is so important. Fighting back the disaster. How important it is to get ahead of that. Any comment on what elements we should look at in School Districts across the nation to do the best thing for their students in light of circumstances that you see . You are not in position, but being that prepared. Thank you. And thank you for your service. The test kits are critical if we can get containment. We are seeing the infection rates we have now, i dont think testing will change the outcome. If we get containment and then we can test people and isolate people that were exposed, we will get this under control. Things go back to how big and how much would you need for the worst Case Scenario . Not what the plan does, not what you think you will need, but just how quickly you are working backwards. Thank you. Thank you, congresswoman. I so appreciate everyones patience in the midst of all of this. We have a hard out at 12 30. I just want to close by thanking the members for their questions, patience, and dedication to serving their districts. I deeply respect my colleagues and i do not judge any differences we may have in opinion for a lack of courage in the way they serve during this crisis that we face together. The members of the subcommittees may have additional questions for the witnesses and we ask that you respond expeditiously in writing to those questions. With that objection, the committee record will be kept open for 10 days. The hearing stands adjourned. music