Trump to announce ‘major’ purchase of N95 coronavirus masks. McConnell wants more
The Trump administration will announce a “major procurement” this weekend of N95 respirator masks to relieve a shortage at hospitals around the country dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, Vice President Mike Pence told reporters on Friday.
The federal contract comes after Congress passed legislation earlier this week protecting manufacturers from liability against potentially faulty products.
“We’re more encouraged than ever about the availability of those N95 masks,” Pence said, previewing a purchase that would “make industrial masks fully available” amid a shortage in hospitals nationwide.
Pence, who leads the White House task force on the coronavirus, had pressed members of Congress to provide liability protection for N95 mask manufacturers such as Honeywell and 3M, which could produce tens of millions of respirators each month.
That provision was included in a stimulus bill signed into law earlier this week.
But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is now proposing additional legislation that would protect mask manufacturers even more broadly from lawsuits.
The Kentucky Republican’s proposed $1 trillion coronavirus relief package now being negotiated with Democrats and the White House would protect manufacturers from potential lawsuits involving several different models of respirator masks approved for use by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health – not just the N95.
Those protections would be permanent, according to McConnell’s bill, which is similar to provisions in legislation that a group of House members, led by Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., introduced last November. Sen. Deb Fischer, another Nebraska Republican, introduced a corresponding bill on her side of the Capitol in early March.
The purpose of the new legislative provision is to protect manufacturers from liability if U.S. citizens use the masks outside of a hospital environment during a public health crisis, and contract disease.
Under current law, “someone could buy one from Home Depot and say they got coronavirus while walking on the street and wearing a respirator, and the manufacturer will be liable,” said one congressional aide involved in the deliberations.
At the outset of the crisis, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi expressed concern over providing manufacturers with broad liability protections. The California Democrat will not be directly involved in negotiations on the broader coronavirus relief package until after it passes the Republican-controlled Senate.
