President Donald Trump has pushed responsibility for buying medical supplies onto individual governors -- but these governors say that the president's actions are hindering their ability to buy badly needed equipment.
Politico reports that governors still say that they are engaging in destructive bidding wars for supplies -- and are even having supplies that they do order scooped up by the federal government without explanation.
"This is not something that we should ever be faced with," Democratic Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly tells Politico. "It really is the federal government's responsibility to build those stockpiles, and distribute those during the time of crisis."
"I’m bidding on a machine that Illinois is bidding on and California is bidding on and Florida is bidding on," New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said last week, explaining the chaotic process states must engage in to secure supplies. "We’re all bidding up each other."
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), meanwhile, tells Politico that the market for medical supplies is an every-state-for-itself free for all with no coordination at the federal level.
"It’s not clear to us who is making decisions," he said. "It looks like continuing chaos at the highest levels."