Moulton Requests PPE For Defense Workers

SALEM, Mass. — Congressman Seth Moulton (D-MA) has asked the members of the National Defense Industry Association’s members to supply the nation’s defense workers with personal protective equipment so they can safely carry out their essential work supporting the nation’s defense. Moulton sent a formal request for information to the group earlier this week.

The National Defense Industry Association is a group of 1,700 corporate and 70,000 individual members. According to its mission statement, the NDIA exists “to promote the best policies, practices, products, and technology for warfighters and others who ensure the safety and security of the nation.” It champions issues that contribute to the strength, resiliency, and capacity of the defense industrial base. It builds a vigorous, responsive, and collaborative community in support of defense and national security. And it convenes legal and ethical forums for the exchange of ideas, information, viewpoints, and capabilities.

This is the latest in a series of steps Moulton has taken to protect essential workers. Weeks prior to the outbreak of COVID-19 on the USS Theodore Roosevelt, Moulton wrote the heads of the nation’s Uniformed Services, with a request for the military’s plans to protect service members from the virus. Moulton has still not received a substantive response from any of the services housed within the Department of Defense, led by Secretary Mark Esper. The United States Coast Guard, which is not part of the Department of Defense, is the only service to respond with a substantive plan.

Moulton acknowledges the shortage of PPE is in large part due to the president’s failure to lead in the crisis by using the Defense Production Act. In an op-ed published today in The Hill, Moulton asks Americans and business leaders to help fill the void.

The congressman also weighed in through a column published today in The Bulkwark about the president’s failed leadership and its consequences.

“People are dying because of it,” Moulton said, adding that Trump “certainly has the blood of fellow Americans on his hands because of his total failure as commander-in-chief.”

Earlier this month, after the death of a Salem resident who worked at Market Basket in Salem and Walmart in Lynn, Moulton asked Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker to designate grocery store workers in the state as emergency personnel so that they could receive priority testing and access to protective equipment. The day after Moulton’s request, the governor designated grocery store workers as eligible for COVID-19 screenings at priority testing centers created for emergency workers across the state. The governor also quickly designated tow truck drivers and other essential workers for priority testing after Moulton’s push.

Moulton partnered with Representatives Tom Milanowski (D-NJ), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Seth and Don Bacon (R-NE) to lead a call from more than 150 members of Congress to the Federal Transit Administration asking the government to provide PPE and guidance to transit workers who are risking exposure to COVID 19 to transport health care workers, grocery store workers first responders and other essential personnel to their essential jobs throughout the state.

A PDF of the letter to the NDIA is available here. The text is as follows:

April 17, 2020

General Hawk Carlisle, USAF (Ret)
President & CEO
National Defense Industrial Association
2101 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 700
Arlington, Virginia 22201-3060

General Carlisle:

As the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) is focused on supporting our defense and national security, we write to you today with specific questions about how your membership is planning to ensure continuity of operations and provide health and safety protections for their workforce during the COVID-19 pandemic. My hope is that these questions are easy to answer because plans and protections are already in place, or that the questions spur necessary planning and implementation as the virus inevitably spreads.

I am aware that the defense industrial base was identified as a Critical Infrastructure Sector by the Department of Homeland Security. The DIB sector is defined as the worldwide industrial complex that enables research and development as well as design, production, delivery, and maintenance of military weapons systems/software systems, subsystems, and components or parts, as well as purchased services to meet U.S. Military requirements. The designation identifies the essential critical infrastructure workers during the COVID-19 response emergency, and provides guidance to State and local officials as they work to protect their communities while ensuring continuity of functions critical to public health and safety as well as economic and national security.

As of today, I am aware that there have been multiple defense contractor facilities that have closed or modified their operating status due to active COVID-19 cases. I also realize that due to a lack of widespread testing availability, many people are asymptomatic yet unknowingly positive. While most of the country is committed to sheltering in place, DIB workers are continuing to go to work to provide for the safety and security of Americans through this pandemic, along with our first responders, medical workers and the military.

With this in mind, how is your membership addressing the following questions:

• How are you adjusting operations at your facilities due to the outbreak of COVID-19?
• What worker protections are in place to prevent transmission of COVID-19? Are CDC and OSHA guidelines being followed? If not, what challenges have prevented implementation of these guidelines?
• How is PPE being sourced to workers? Is PPE being sourced to all workers or only those with specific functions or with specific exposure risk?
• Is existing PPE adequate to limit infection amongst your workforce? If not, what is being done to mitigate the shortage?
• Do you need assistance procuring proper PPE to keep your workforce safe?
• How are workers being notified of confirmed infections?
• Are workers who test positive being put on sick leave while quarantined or forced to take paid time off?

Times like this is when your advocacy is needed most—for our men and women who are performing their duties to keep our country safe. Thank you for all that you do, and I look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Seth Moulton

Member of Congress

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