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This will be the last weekly edition of the COVID-19
Oversight & Enforcement Report. We began these weekly
enforcement updates on May 8, 2020. Today, some 59 weeks (and a
lifetime) later, the need for a weekly enforcement update focused
on the pandemic response is no longer so acute. We will return with
additional enforcement updates from time to time, as needed. Many
thanks to the entire team that has worked on these updates over
this past year, whose help and diligence has made this project a
pleasure.
A. Congress
On June 22, the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus
Crisis held a hearing titled "U.S. Economy On The Path
To Strong Recovery." Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell
testified regarding the Fed's emergency pandemic lending
programs and the current state of the economy. Select Subcommittee
Chair James Clyburn (D-SC) expressed concerns about the Municipal
Liquidity Facility and the Main Street Lending Program, stating:
"During the crisis, state and local governments shed 1.5
million jobs, and there is little evidence that the Municipal
Liquidity Facility saved jobs or led to their return," and the
"Main Street Lending Program, similarly, imposed restrictions
that made its loans unattractive to struggling businesses and
partner banks."
On June 17, Select Subcommittee Chair Clyburn released a memo regarding the Select Subcommittee's
investigation into contracts the Department of Veterans Affairs
(VA) and FEMA entered with Federal Government Experts, LLC (FGE) to
supply N95 masks early on in the pandemic. According to the Select
Subcommittee, documents obtained during the investigation show that
FGE's CEO Robert Stewart "lied to federal government
officials more than 30 times to induce them to enter the contracts
and cover up his failure to perform" and drove up the price of
N95 masks for sale to the government, and that the federal
government failed to perform due diligence in awarding FGE's
contracts. The memo notes that, while no taxpayer dollars went to
FGE under the contracts, FGE's dealings with the VA were
"a waste of time and cost the agency labor hours." On
June 16, Stewart "was sentenced to 21 months in prison and
three years of supervised release for making false statements to
procure multimillion-dollar contracts to sell masks to these
agencies, then failing to deliver."
A bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced legislation to modernize the
nation's compensation system for people injured by vaccines.
Representatives Lloyd Doggett (D-TX), Fred Upton (R-MI), and Mike
Kelly (R-PA) introduced the legislation, which would amend the
Vaccine Injury Compensation System by increasing the cap on damages
for vaccine-injury claims, reducing the backlog of such claims,
increasing the statute of limitations for bringing such claims, and
requiring that HHS add new FDA-approved vaccines to the
vaccine-compensation program within six months of approval. Rep.
Doggett said, "This legislation updates an important consumer
protection tool to assure it is capable of fairly addressing the
one-in-a-million injuries that may be associated with COVID-19
vaccines."
In February, Senators Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Susan Collins
(R-ME), Ron Wyden (D-OR), and Sharrod Brown (D-OH) introduced The National Coronavirus Commission
Act of 2021, which would establish a 9/11 style commission to study
the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States and assess
vulnerabilities in the nation's public health system. On June
14, Senators Menendez and Collins wrote an op-ed in The New York Times urging
passage of the bipartisan legislation: "We should do
everything in our power to prevent our country and our communities,
small businesses and families from enduring a similar ordeal again,
because it's not a matter of if but when another pandemic or
public health emergency will strike."
B. Executive Agencies
A New York man and a Georgia woman were arrested June 11 on a
criminal complaint filed in the Western
District of New York. The pair allegedly conspired to fraudulently
obtain and misuse a nearly $1 million PPP loan, which they used on
personal expenses and to purchase two cars.
OSHA's COVID-19 emergency temporary standard (ETS) for
health-care employers took effect June 21. Employers must comply
with most provisions, such as developing an infection-prevention
program and creating a log of new virus cases, by July 5. Other
mandates, such as worker training and those that could require
physical changes to workspaces and buildings, have a July 21
compliance deadline.
OSHA has increased enforcement of COVID-19 workplace protections.
Five months into the Biden Administration, OSHA has issued three
times as many general duty clause violations as it did during the
Trump Administration. OSHA also has increased the number of
inspections of workplaces where COVID-19 could be a hazard, even if
an employer or workers haven't reported complaints to the
agency. However, the proposed fines under the two administrations
are about the same.
C. State Attorneys General
A federal judge granted Florida AG Ashley Moody's request
for a preliminary injunction against the CDC, which had issued a
conditional sailing order requiring cruise operators to proceed
through a four-phase framework prior to resuming passenger
operations in US waters. AG Moody argued that the CDC order
exceeded its legislative authority or, alternatively, that Congress
impermissibly delegated its authority to the agency. The court
found the state had standing to bring the lawsuit and was likely to
succeed on the merits, but temporarily stayed the preliminary
injunction to allow the CDC to propose a narrower rule. The agency
could also appeal.
D. Special Inspector General for
Pandemic Recovery (SIGPR)
No updates this week.
E. Pandemic Recovery Accountability
Committee (PRAC)
No updates this week.
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guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought
about your specific circumstances.