'Failure of the worst kind’: Republican blasts Trump for forcing states to compete with each other to obtain protective gear

In a series of tweets over the weekend, the Republican Senate Majority Leader of Arkansas lashed out Donald Trump's administration for leaving states in dire need of medical supplies hanging as the coronavirus pandemic grips the country.

Senator Jim Hendren -- who is related to former U.S. Sen Tim Hutchinson (R) and current Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) -- complained about the lack of access to federal stockpiles of the much-needed personal protective equipment (PPE) which is forcing his state into a bidding war with other states.

According to the Republican, "Last week #arleg used emergency rule making authority to approve @AsaHutchinson request for 30 million dollars for PPE so our healthcare providers could be safe. Unfortunately it still hasn’t solved problem because the feds only let us purchase 25% of the PPE we need from their strategic stockpiles. They tell states we’re on our own for the rest - go bid against every other state and country with no protection that prices won’t run up."

He then added, "This is failure of the worst kind. It’s like telling states to go procure F-15s and battleships for self defense. This is a national crisis. The full power of the USA should be leveraged to solve this problem. Not 50 individual states left to compete with each other," before writing, "’m glad that we, as a state, haven’t sent the same message to our counties, cities and hospitals that the Federal government sent to us."

You can see his tweets below: