Gov. Cuomo: The Only Way We Can Obtain These Ventilators Is from the Federal Government, Period

EXCERPT:

CUOMO: “There is no other way for us to get these ventilators. We’ve tried everything else. The only way we can obtain these ventilators is from the federal government, period. There’s two ways the federal government can do it. One is to use the Federal Defense Production Act, the federal law where the federal government can say to manufacturers, 'You must produce this product.' I understand the federal government’s point that many companies have come forward and said, 'We want to help,' and General Motors and Ford and people are willing to get into the ventilator business. It does us no good if they start to create a ventilator in three weeks or four weeks or five weeks. We’re looking at an apex of 14 days. If we don’t have the ventilators in 14 days, it does us no good. The Federal Defense Procurement Act can actually help companies because the federal government can say, 'Look, I need you to go into this business. I will contract with you today for X number of ventilators. Here is the startup capital you need, here's the startup capital you need to hire workers to do it around the clock, but I need the ventilators in 14 days.' Only the federal government has that power. And not to exercise that power is inexplicable to me.”