In recent years, presidents have increasingly used emergency powers to do things that the founders never would have anticipated, such as launch trade wars or build walls after Congress explicitly refused to authorize expenditure for that purpose. Now President Trump is pushing the envelope even further:
Donald Trump has issued an executive order to force meat-processing factories to remain open, as concerns mount about the US food supply chain after the closure of several big plants because of Covid-19 outbreaks.
The US president invoked the Defense Production Act — a Korean war-era law that permits the government to compel companies to take action for national security reasons — after a spate of recent outbreaks at processing facilities raised concerns about serious food shortages.
One can argue whether it is justified to force the closure of certain businesses during a pandemic, but forcing a business to remain open? President Truman once forced the steel industry to re-open, and you can sort of understand the logic linking steel to national security.
But meat? I wonder how many vegans view high meat prices as a threat to national security?
In the early days of the Trump administration, there was a perception that he was advancing “free market” policies. Now that’s all gone out the window, as the federal government takes over our credit markets.
On the other hand, kudos to Trump for trying to speed up vaccine development.
In Brazil, many libertarians supported President Bolsonaro, despite his support for dictatorships and torture. Previously, I suggested that this would end up being a mistake, and now it looks like it was:
The one-time star minister is being forced to reconcile his free market “Chicago Boy” identity with the need for massive government intervention. Amid reports that he is being sidelined from projects over his hesitancy to spend, analysts are questioning how long he will remain in the post.
Those concerns were exacerbated last week when Sérgio Moro [a famous corruption fighter] abruptly resigned as justice minister, leaving only a handful of moderates, including Mr Guedes, in the Bolsonaro administration.
“I have no doubt that the minister is experiencing anguish because he is taking measures that are contrary to his convictions, his soul,” said Tadeu Alencar, a lawmaker with the Brazilian socialist party, who met the minister in recent weeks. “His deep-seated convictions have not changed in the face of the crisis.” . . .
“He is lamenting that Brazil was starting to develop a structure in its economic organisation and that is no longer going to happen,” said Elias Vaz, a lawmaker.
“It is clear he is depressed that his entire agenda has been compromised.”
PS. This post is not about whether meat-packing plants should remain open; there are good arguments either way. The point is that these decisions should be made locally, by people with deep knowledge of the Covid-19 situation, not a President who may be biased by political considerations.
READER COMMENTS
eric
Apr 29 2020 at 8:23pm
America locked up Japanese Americans to feel safer after Pearl Harbor. It’s probably true in some sense that Japanese Americans would have a higher chance to commit sabotage than non-Japanese American, but it’s was a cowardly and awful decision.
In the current situation we have to fear fear more than other things. The current leader is at least putting his neck on the line and saying “The buck stops here, i’ll take responsibility”. A business owner rightly fears being liable. Trump is doing the right thing by standing up and putting it on himself. Hate the guy, but at least he has the guts to stand up try to stop the slow motion suicide of the economy.
Lorenzo from Oz
Apr 30 2020 at 1:46am
I feel you are missing the point here. Federalism is quite a good discovery and adaptive device, if it is allowed to be. President Trump’s actions are getting in the way of that and are so not good practice, regardless of the rights or wrongs of any individual decision or decisions.
Mark Z
Apr 30 2020 at 8:49am
So why not just solve the liability issue? Why not temporarily exempt the industry from lawsuits instead of co-opting it? This isn’t an entirely rhetorical question. Maybe the DPA allows the government to take over an industry, but not slightly alter the regulation of said industry. That may be so, but it seems like a flaw in the lawcode to allow an extreme intervention while prohibiting a modest one.
Also, I think the next round of coronavirus legislation, as currently proposed, is supposed to give liability protection to companies, which should help resolve this issue. Of course, congressional Democrats have already resolved to fight the liability protection part, so it may not ultimately materialize.
Scott Sumner
Apr 30 2020 at 12:52pm
Eric, You said:
“The current leader is at least putting his neck on the line and saying “The buck stops here, i’ll take responsibility”.”
I rarely recall Trump ever accepting blame for anything. Maybe the Access Hollywood tape, but otherwise he always seems to deflect blame on others.
Lorenzo from Oz
Apr 30 2020 at 1:51am
Quite. Discovery and feedback systems have enough problems without grandstanding national officials making them worse. Citing ‘national security’ can be a grand way for alleged intent to trump consideration of knowledge limitations.
(Completely coincidentally, I have just posted an essay on discovery and feedback, and signal-to-noise ratios, prompted by a recent post of Arnold Kling’s and the pandemic experience.)
Thomas Hutcheson
Apr 30 2020 at 8:06am
But Democrats support minimum wages, so a pox on both your houses. 🙂
Mark Z
Apr 30 2020 at 8:41am
Raising minimum wages is probably the least concerning idea Democrats have had recently. Outlawing mergers and acquisitions and abolishing rent rank higher in my mind.
Alan Goldhammer
Apr 30 2020 at 10:35am
We have not seen any plan “Operation Warp Speed” for vaccine fast track. the linked article is highly misleading for anyone with experience in vaccine R&D. Manufacturing deals are already being lined up by all major vaccine players and the human trials are underway. The Oxford group just signed a contract with AstraZeneca for manufacturing of their vaccine. Pfizer will be manufacturing the German mRNA vaccine which is similar if not identical to what Moderna are making (I have not seen any manufacturing plan from Moderna). J&J have capacity for making 1B doses of their vaccine which will be going into the clinic later this years. We also have I think a $2B commitment from the Gates Foundation. Manufacturing capacity is a non-issue.
Scott already covered one of the issues already in regard to Human Challenge Trials. Both the US and China (and I would suppose the Dutch also) have animal models that can be used for pre-clinical challenge studies. Maybe Operation Warp Speed is another Jared Kushner initiative; it is a catchy title that he would have come up with.
Chris
Apr 30 2020 at 12:57pm
The executive order does not force meat packing plants to remain open – the media grossly misrepresented that, or at best jumped to conclusions before knowing anything specific. The EO requires meat packing to honor Fed contracts as a priority.
Scott Sumner
May 1 2020 at 7:38pm
You may be right. Where did this rumor come from? Did the administration claim it was forcing plants to remain open? It’s odd that all the media (including conservative media) all said the same thing.
Scott Sumner
May 1 2020 at 7:54pm
It seems like this sentence caused the problem:
“Under the delegation of authority provided in this order, the Secretary of Agriculture shall take all appropriate action under that section to ensure that meat and poultry processors continue operations consistent with the guidance for their operations jointly issued by the CDC and OSHA. ”
The term “all” seems to give the Secretary the authority to force plants open, but (as you say) does not actually force plants open. If so, then the media headlines were in fact wrong.
One reason I asked about how the administration sold this idea is that I don’t recall a “fake news” claim made by the administration, which is odd. Unless someone in the administration also said it was a forced opening, which would explain their silence.
Peter
Apr 30 2020 at 2:31pm
The thing I have always wondered with business orders like that is how it applies to the employees. Like I assume I’m still free to quit, get fired, call in sick, and take holiday. Seems any employer that wants to truly close even with this order could just state they wouldn’t fire anybody who took time off, paid or unpaid, for safety reasons.
And forcing a business to remain open with no workers seem untenable hence I’m curious if the laws restrict employees in those industries as well or new mandatory HR requirements such as “you must hire new people to stay in operations regardless the cost even paying employees a million an hour each”
It’s a gripe I often have on all these “essential” workers like folk at hospitals complaining they HAVE to work. I’m generally like “well then take your one month vacation time or unpaid leave / call in sick. Nobody forcing you to work”
Dylan
Apr 30 2020 at 2:46pm
People can quit, but I’ve heard from at least one friend who is a nurse at a big hospital in NYC that no vacation time would be granted, and there were strict rules on sick time where people were only given 3 days sick time if they had symptoms of the virus. This was before we saw the peak, when capacity issues were the biggest concern, not sure if things have changed since then. But, not accurate at all to say that people can just take a month vacation (as if most health workers even have a month of vacation a year).
JdL
Apr 30 2020 at 3:00pm
“… kudos to Trump for trying to speed up vaccine development.”
I’m fine with the government staying out of the way (something it really REALLY hates to do) of speedy vaccine development, as long as it doesn’t turn around and try to mandate taking it. Some vaccines are safe, highly effective, and a clear boon to health, while others, such as the anti-HPV Gardasil, are an absolute disaster. I’m old, so considered high risk for death by COVID, but I don’t plan to partake of any vaccine against it until it’s been field-tested on the general populace for a year or more.
Alan Goldhammer
Apr 30 2020 at 3:52pm
@JdL – do you have any proof that the anti-HPV vaccine is not safe and effective? I sure have not seen anything in the scientific literature that would point to that.
Mike
May 1 2020 at 2:32pm
The reason this is a National Security issue is because the lack of food or the mere misperception that a food shortage exists will cause destabilization amongst the civilian population (in major urban areas first) – thus causing civil disturbances beyond the control of local and state law enforcement – whereby leading to a Public Safety issue, causing Governors to re-task National Guard personnel to perform law enforcement duties and set up regional security zones. If the National Guard were unable to contain the situation and if gangs began overrunning major cities and if militia groups began forming – once local and state law enforcement lose control then we enter into a situation where the President federalizes National Guard forces – and along with active duty troops, then set up Regional Security Zones across the country in order to regain control and re-establish civil obedience, in an effort to avoid having to declare Martial Law – which is authorized if the National Security of the United States is threatened.
It is one thing for people to freak out over a lack of toilet paper, but if people believe food is running out or becoming scarce, then even normal people might begin acting desperately under the impression of extreme measures for which they believe their very survival and the survival of their family is at risk. Therefore, the President is absolutely correct in his decision to place meat processing plants under the Defense Production Act (DPA) – and you should further understand he was likely advised to do so by very senior officials within the U.S. Intelligence Community (USIC) – which encompasses 16 federal agencies.
In closing, please do your homework and research before dismissing the President as being political in his decision-making. I wonder how many life or death decisions someone like you has ever had to make, or of you have ever made decisions affecting Public Safety and National Security?
I make these comments as a retired Military Officer and CI Special Agent with over 20 years of service to our nation – which include combat operations, counterterrorism missions, counterdrug operations, and service in response to natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina. My comments and statements are my own, and in no way imply that they are shared or reflected by the U.S. Government.
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