WASHINGTON — The White House had been preparing to reveal on Wednesday a joint venture between General Motors and Ventec Life Systems that would allow for the production of as many as 80,000 desperately needed ventilators to respond to an escalating pandemic when word suddenly came down that the announcement was off.
The decision to cancel the announcement, government officials say, came after the Federal Emergency Management Agency said it needed more time to assess whether the estimated cost was prohibitive. That price tag was more than $1 billion, with several hundred million dollars to be paid upfront to General Motors to retool a car parts plant in Kokomo, Ind., where the ventilators would be made with Ventec’s technology.
Is it me, or is it insane at this point, with Trillions of dollars being pumped out already, that were haggling over a Billion dollars.
WASHINGTON — President Trump lashed out at General Motors on Friday, blaming it for overpromising on its ability to make new ventilators for critically ill coronavirus patients and threatening to invoke the Defense Production Act to compel the company to do so.
In a series of tweets, the president emphasized the urgent need for the ventilators, an abrupt change of tone from the night before, when he told Sean Hannity, the Fox News host, that states were inflating their needs.
Mr. Trump appeared to be reacting to reports that the White House had dragged its feet in awarding contracts to G.M. and Ventec Life Systems, to start new production lines in a converted G.M. plant in Kokomo, Ind.
With the Federal Emergency Management Agency still evaluating a $1.5 billion proposal from those companies, Mr. Trump declared that General Motors “MUST immediately open their stupidly abandoned Lordstown plant in Ohio, or some other plant, and START MAKING VENTILATORS, NOW!!!!!!”
He added, “FORD, GET GOING ON ventilators, FAST!!!!!!”
Within an hour, General Motors and Ventec announced that they would begin producing ventilators at the Kokomo plant, and that the machines would be “scheduled to ship as soon as next month.”
Oh, please. This is the Trump admin being idiots & blaming anybody not them. I mean, wtf do you think, that Dems would fault them for paying too much? Fuck, no. Just do it. The last thing we need now is more posturing & dithering bullshit.
It's the fiscal conservatism the Repubs were once infamously known for that's reared its ugly head again. Their motto: "Never let an exploding disaster go by without first taking all the time you need toward proving how fiscally conservative you are".
Could you imagine just sitting there in bed on your GM produced ventilator when the ole check engine light comes on??