Trump administration tries to narrow stockpile’s role for states

President Trump points to a reporter to ask a question during a Thursday news conference where his son-in-law Jared Kushner, left, offered a new, narrower vision of the Strategic National Stockpile. The Trump administration has abruptly changed its description of the Strategic National Stockpile and put forward a narrower vision of the role the federal government’s repository of life-saving medicines and equipment should play in supplying states’ needs. But it conforms with President Trump’s insistence that the stockpile is only a short-term backup for states, not a commitment to ensure supplies get quickly to those who need them most during an emergency, the latest front in a concerted White House effort to try to put the onus for battling the crisis on the states, with Washington meant to play more of a supporting role. It’s not supposed to be states’ stockpiles that they then use.” Asked what Kushner meant by “our stockpile,” Trump snapped at a reporter, “You know what ‘our’ means: United States of America. Until Friday, the federal Health and Human Services website had described the stockpile as “the nation’s largest supply of life-saving pharmaceuticals and medical supplies for use in a public health emergency severe enough to cause local supplies to run out.” “When state, local, tribal, and territorial responders request federal assistance to support their response efforts, the stockpile ensures that the right medicines and supplies get to those who need them most during an emergency,” it says.