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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsPentagon used taxpayer money meant for masks and swabs to make jet engine parts and body armor
Shortly after Congress passed the Cares Act, the Pentagon began directing pandemic-related money to defense contractors.A $1 billion fund Congress gave the Pentagon in March to build up the countrys supplies of medical equipment has instead been mostly funneled to defense contractors and used to make things such as jet engine parts, body armor and dress uniforms.
The change illustrates how one taxpayer-backed effort to battle the novel coronavirus, which has killed about 200,000 Americans, was instead diverted toward patching up long-standing perceived gaps in military supplies.
The Cares Act, which Congress passed earlier this year, gave the Pentagon money to prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus. But a few weeks later, the Defense Department began reshaping how it would award the money in a way that represented a major departure from Congresss intent.
The payments were made even though U.S. health officials think major funding gaps in pandemic response still remain. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in Senate testimony last week that states desperately need $6 billion to distribute vaccines to Americans early next year. Many U.S. hospitals still face a severe shortage of N95 masks. These are the types of problems that the money was originally intended to address.
The change illustrates how one taxpayer-backed effort to battle the novel coronavirus, which has killed about 200,000 Americans, was instead diverted toward patching up long-standing perceived gaps in military supplies.
The Cares Act, which Congress passed earlier this year, gave the Pentagon money to prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus. But a few weeks later, the Defense Department began reshaping how it would award the money in a way that represented a major departure from Congresss intent.
The payments were made even though U.S. health officials think major funding gaps in pandemic response still remain. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in Senate testimony last week that states desperately need $6 billion to distribute vaccines to Americans early next year. Many U.S. hospitals still face a severe shortage of N95 masks. These are the types of problems that the money was originally intended to address.
**PayWall**https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/09/22/covid-funds-pentagon/
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Pentagon used taxpayer money meant for masks and swabs to make jet engine parts and body armor (Original Post)
spanone
Sep 2020
OP
Why can't there be a criminal liability here for fraud/waste/abuse of funds?
BusyBeingBest
Sep 2020
#3
Tanuki
(14,918 posts)1. I guess they wanted to make up for the shortfall caused by the millions 45 stole
from the Defense Department budget in his failed attempt to build his stupid, racist vanity wall. More
Srkdqltr
(6,276 posts)2. Of course they did.
BusyBeingBest
(8,052 posts)3. Why can't there be a criminal liability here for fraud/waste/abuse of funds?
spanone
(135,830 posts)4. because of the republican congress, attorney general etc. etc. etc.
BusyBeingBest
(8,052 posts)5. Well, I think the House appropriated the money--no reason
why Dems can't try to hold DoD accountable.