- Aug 8, 2016
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It figures it'd be something like this...
The Pentagon has defended its decision to repurpose Covid-19 preparedness funds – meant for pandemic response – to prop up weapons contractors as House Democrats slammed its double-dipping.
While the Department of Defense received $1 billion in March's CARES Act stimulus bill specifically to "prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus," it ultimately diverted most of the windfall to defense contractors, the Washington Post revealed on Tuesday.
The pandemic response fund, created under the aegis of the Defense Production Act, was supposed to be used to produce N95 masks, gloves, and other PPE that was scarce at the time. Instead, it was doled out to mega-corporations like Rolls-Royce, GE Aviation, and ArcelorMittal, as well as to smaller firms making drone technology and a fabric manufacturer whose product is used to make army uniforms. The only thing most recipients had in common was that their work had no immediately apparent connection to coronavirus preparedness.
Worse, at least a third of the Pentagon contractors who benefited from the misappropriated pandemic response funds were essentially double-dipping, WaPo revealed, helping themselves to the critically-underfunded Paycheck Protection Program which so many American small businesses outside the defense sector have struggled to access.
Continued - Pentagon slammed for turning $1 billion ‘coronavirus fund’ into more military-industrial pork – but what did Congress expect?
The Pentagon has defended its decision to repurpose Covid-19 preparedness funds – meant for pandemic response – to prop up weapons contractors as House Democrats slammed its double-dipping.
While the Department of Defense received $1 billion in March's CARES Act stimulus bill specifically to "prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus," it ultimately diverted most of the windfall to defense contractors, the Washington Post revealed on Tuesday.
The pandemic response fund, created under the aegis of the Defense Production Act, was supposed to be used to produce N95 masks, gloves, and other PPE that was scarce at the time. Instead, it was doled out to mega-corporations like Rolls-Royce, GE Aviation, and ArcelorMittal, as well as to smaller firms making drone technology and a fabric manufacturer whose product is used to make army uniforms. The only thing most recipients had in common was that their work had no immediately apparent connection to coronavirus preparedness.
Worse, at least a third of the Pentagon contractors who benefited from the misappropriated pandemic response funds were essentially double-dipping, WaPo revealed, helping themselves to the critically-underfunded Paycheck Protection Program which so many American small businesses outside the defense sector have struggled to access.
Continued - Pentagon slammed for turning $1 billion ‘coronavirus fund’ into more military-industrial pork – but what did Congress expect?