GREEN BAY, WI — Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) today led a bipartisan letter to U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper calling on the Department of Defense (DoD) to use the resources at its disposal to increase Wisconsin’s access to critical medical supplies. The letter, signed by members of the Wisconsin delegation, asks for clarity as to when DoD will make nearly 5 million masks and 2,000 ventilators available to states, and what the Department’s plan is for ensuring states can maintain access to additional resources.
The Wisconsin lawmakers wrote, “Although we strongly support the measures that the Department of Defense has taken thus far in order to safeguard service member health and readiness as well as to provide support to civil authorities, we want to ensure states like Wisconsin are receiving as much assistance as possible in order to counter this pandemic. As Wisconsin runs low on critical medical supplies, we are aware that the Department of Defense has unparalleled resources at its disposal that could help mitigate the severity of the crisis…In this time of unprecedented uncertainty and growing crisis, we cannot afford to leave potential resources untapped. We urge the Department to make use of all the tools at its disposal to assist civil authorities in their efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.”
In addition to calling on Secretary Esper to release the supplies the Department currently has in reserve, the lawmakers asked the Secretary ten questions regarding DoD’s plans to provide supplies to states, including whether the Department is considering making available additional equipment from the National Defense Stockpile.
The full letter is available here.
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