Virginia Republican Senate candidate Hung Kao said former President Donald Trump’s plan to domestically produce personal protective equipment (PPE) such as medical gloves, which the Biden administration has scuttled, has led to a U.S. Senate bid in southern Virginia. He said thousands of new jobs would be created in the West.
Cao Cao joins SiriusXM Breitbart News Saturday, host Matthew Boyle highlighted the Biden administration’s failures in the project, which began amid a shortage of personal protective equipment due to the coronavirus pandemic. He specifically noted the increasing number of nitrile glove imports from China.
Related Video — Giroir: Biden must demand that China end its series of “cover-ups” of the 100% deadly coronavirus by admitting its guilt in COVID-19:
“What’s happened under President Biden is that the proportion of these gloves coming from China has skyrocketed to almost the majority,” Boyle said. “On the other hand, you have empty factories that were built because of President Trump, but aren’t producing anything because of President Biden and Democrats like Tim Kaine sitting in Southwest Virginia.”
Additionally, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) and other Republican senators sent a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra on February 29 expressing concerns about the personal protective equipment supply chain. He emphasized that the Biden administration had chosen not to “build on that foundation.” Founded by Trump,” but “started from scratch and failed.”
Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra speaks during a press conference at the HHS Humphreys Building in Washington, October 18, 2022. (AP Photo/Jacqueline Martin)
Mr. Boyle asked Mr. Cao whether he was concerned about supply chains and U.S. dependence on China for gloves in the event of another pandemic. Are you concerned that the United States is dependent on this and what are we doing to get these things manufactured in the United States again?”
“That’s a great question,” Cao replied. “So 2 percent of nitrile gloves are currently manufactured in the United States, and as you said, the bill introduced by President Trump is hurting the economy in Southwest Virginia because it demonizes coal. They’re looking for other gloves.” That would create 2,500 jobs in Southwest Virginia. 6 factories. Currently, more than 70% of his nitrile gloves are manufactured in China. ”
listening:
One of Wythe County’s shuttered plants highlighted bureaucratic failures in the contract with Blue Star. Construction of the rubber production plant, which cost the federal government $123 million, was completed last spring, but the plant was closed because the contractor was left with no government funding to build a plant to mold the rubber. It was closed in the fall. nitrile gloves, washington post report:
The Washington government had originally planned to build two factories with Blue Star, one to make rubber and another to process the material into medical gloves, but in the early days of the pandemic. were in dangerously short supply. But by the time the rubber factory was built, the worst of the pandemic and glove shortages had passed. Federal officials say Blue Star’s contract is still worth $60 million to connect the rubber plant to utilities and $170 million to build an adjacent glove factory. It is said to have been completed. The company needs to win new contracts or find private funding to move forward.
Blue Star exclusively shared with Breitbart News a compilation of government data showing that imports of medical gloves from China have tripled since 2019. In 2023, China “increased its share of medical glove imports to the United States to 44.15%,” compared to 14.2% in 2019. , as Boyle previously reported. On its current trajectory, it is expected to account for 60% of US medical gloves by 2024.
President Joe Biden holds a mask as he speaks about his administration’s response to the surge in coronavirus cases across the United States from South Court Auditorium in the Eisenhower Executive Building in Washington, DC, on January 13, 2022. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
“This affects every American every day, from the person packing the meat in the store to the food vendor to the first responders like my wife, who is an EMT. Now the police officer. Even they have to wear it…because they’re afraid of touching the fentanyl and absorbing it into their skin,” Cao said. “We have to wear these things. We depend on them, but Chinese quality is not the same as American quality. We live by standards, but their What if the standards are wrong? What if other things are mixed in? My point is, anything can happen if we don’t act within the United States, and we need to protect our country. We need to protect our people, and that starts with getting all these resources into the country, especially personal protective equipment, PPE.”
Cao also said that Vance’s letter to Becerra follows letters to Becerra from Sens. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.). He’s promoting what a great thing he’s done to increase production, but credit them for what they’ve done.” We offshored it to China. ”
“So this is a farce and Tim Kaine is 100% complicit in this,” Cao charged.
Breitbart News Saturdays airs on SiriusXM Patriot 125 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. ET.
