WASHINGTON DC (May 1, 2020) — Today, Representatives Dave Loebsack (IA-02), Cindy Axne (IA-03), and Abby Finkenauer (IA-01) sent a letter to President Donald Trump asking for the president to partner in safely reopening meat-processing plants in Iowa by utilizing the Defense Production Act (DPA) to produce the needed Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for workers, just as he has done to order the opening of the plants.
“For our food supply to remain open, the people working in these plants must have the proper safety-gear to keep them, their families, and their communities safe and healthy. Worker-safety must be our number-one priority when reopening these plants,” Rep Loebsack said. “In order to ensure worker safety, it is time to put politics aside. We must work to fully-utilize the Defense Production Act to get the proper protective gear produced in order to keep the processing plants running. Extraordinary efforts are needed to guarantee the safety of workers and keep the plants running.”
“Our agriculture industry is critical to Iowa’s economy — but a strong economy depends on a healthy population — and we must keep Iowans safe and protected from coronavirus above all else,” Rep Axne said. “As steps are taken to safely ensure that our nation’s food supply is uninterrupted using the Defense Production Act, that same determination must be extended to ending any shortage of supplies that will protect and aid those deemed essential while working during this ongoing public health crisis.”
“As representatives from Iowa, where agriculture is the bedrock of our economy and essential to our culture, we share a common goal with the president in ensuring our food supply-chain remains intact during the COVID-19 pandemic,” Rep Finkenauer said. “We want to help ensure that any action taken to re-open food processing plants does not lead to dozens or hundreds of new cases, as we’ve seen in Waterloo. We can put politics aside and work together to secure the food supply, and ensure Iowans are protected as they return to work at meat processing plants.”
In the letter, Reps Loebsack, Axne, and Finkenauer ask President Trump to invoke his power under the Defense Production Act to order the production to personal protective equipment (PPE) and help ensure employees at processing plants can be kept safe.
In the letter to the president, the representatives wrote, “We can all agree that workers should have access to PPE. The reality, however, is that our country does not, and has not, had enough supplies since the beginning of this crisis. During the last week, The Federal Emergency Management Agency and The Department of Health and Human Services acknowledged as much, telling Congress that we lack adequate supplies of tests or PPE, and that these shortages are likely to continue.”
They also wrote, “Mr President, this is about the future of our country. Like our farmers, distributors, and retailers, these workers are an integral part of our food supply-chain. These plants cannot operate without them and they deserve the dignity and security of meaningful on-the-job protections. That’s why we urge you to invoke The Defense Production Act to guarantee the production of enough PPE for our frontline workers — just as you have done to keep these plants open, to ensure an adequate supply of ventilators and in thousands of other instances over the last three years.”
The full letter can be found at the enclosed link.
