Trump admin FAIL and a Republican finds his spine

Officials in Montgomery County, Ala., say that thousands of medical masks the county received from the national stockpile last week were rotten and expired.

Local emergency management director Christi Thornton said the package of 5,880 procedure masks was ruined because they had dry rot, The Associated Press reported.

The face covers reportedly had a 2010 expiration date.

Thornton said a replacement shipment was received Wednesday.

[...]

In Los Angeles, 170 broken ventilators were received from the national stockpile, according to California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D).

[...]

Due to the shortage of medical equipment in hospitals around the country responding to patients infected with the coronavirus, state governments have resorted to bidding and out-bidding other states for supplies.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) said that competition is "creating a lot more problems for all of us."

“We the states are trying to actively get every piece of PPE that we can. We're bidding against one another, and in some cases, the federal government is taking priority,” she said, referring to personal protective equipment.

  The Hill

Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) is requesting an investigation into reports of "mismanagement" of ventilators in the Strategic National Stockpile amid growing demand for the equipment as the coronavirus spreads across the country.

Gardner sent a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General, noting that the stockpile is, under federal law, supposed to allow the federal government to support states in a public health emergency.

"Troubling reports indicate that potential contracting delays and maintenance failures are contributing to a low supply of operational ventilators during the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) global pandemic at a time when our country desperately needs them," Gardner wrote.

Gardner is asking for the HHS watchdog to investigate if there was a "lapse in contracts that led to a lapse in maintaining" the ventilators in the national stockpile. If so, he wants to know how long the equipment went without maintenance and if regulatory or changes from Congress are needed.

[...]

Gardner, who faces a difficult reelection race this fall, also wants to know if there was "mismanagement that led to a shortage of working ventilators or other critical medical supplies or equipment."

[...]

The New York Times reported that thousands of ventilators in the country's stockpile are inoperable because a contract with a company tasked with maintaining the equipment lapsed last year. The contract was not given to another company until January.

  The Hill

I hope Senator Gardner is ready for nasty-tweet and McConnell revenge.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.