Trump gave an agency $ 100 million to fight Covid. Here is what happened.

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A federal agency run by a college friend of Jared Kushner and allocated $ 100 million to spend on fixing the Covid supply chain crunch has so far failed to invest a dime, according to a new watchdog report. government.

In 2020, the Trump administration ordered the International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) to lend $ 100 million in Pentagon funds through the CARES Act to “guide domestic production of the strategic resources needed to respond to the COVID-19 outbreak. , and to strengthen any associated domestic medical supply chains. “

Companies are encouraged to apply for financial support to help increase U.S. distribution of ventilators, vaccines, medical test supplies, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and other related products. According to a new report by the Government Accountability Office, 178 applications flooded the agencies in the downtown Washington office but no money came out.

The agencies portal for loan applications has now been paused and its authority to make Covid-related loans will end on March 26.

Adam Boehler, briefly a college fellow of President Donald Trump’s son -in -law and adviser Jared Kushner, has managed the International Development Finance Corporation since fall 2019. The DFC was created with two -party support in 2018 to assist in the management of private investment in government-funded projects in the developing world.

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Boehler has worked in the private sector starting health care companies. He was appointed by the Trump administration to run the Health and Human Services Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, then served as a senior adviser at HHS before he was assigned to DFC in 2019.

After the start of the pandemic in 2020, when public health officials scrambled to find gloves, gowns and N-95 masks, the DFC expanded its role to focus on strengthening the domestic supply chain through a Trump’s executive order.

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The agency told GAO last month, however, that its loans were delayed by significant interagency reviews, that the proposed projects were complex and required environmental assessments, and that it had trouble hiring staff. to review the proposals.

The author of the GAO report, Chelsa Kenney, told NBC News that the lack of loans created a gap in expectations in terms of performance. He said his understanding was the agency had canceled 175 applications to eight but still did not provide any funding.

DFC spokesperson Pooja Jhunjhunwala said, While we appreciate the work provided by GAO in this audit, it does not accurately describe the specific role of DFCs as the program includes management and close participation from in many agencies throughout the government. DFC is not the leading agency or provider of loan disbursements to companies. Jhunjhunwala said the DFC accepted the watchdogs ’recommendation that it monitor the cost of reviewing the proposals, but rejected the recommendation that the DFC review the Covid loan program.

A letter from the agency responding to the draft report points to other federal agencies that are also responsible for the program. The current acting CEO of the agencies, Dev Jagadesan, wrote, While this report is correct in saying that the DFC CEO has authority over some key operational, administrative and decision -making functions of the program, it should be noted that the most fundamental programmatic authority, including the budget authority on transactions and administrative costs and approval of project eligibility and technical requirements, resides with the interagency partners for this program: DOD at HHS.

Jagadesan also disagreed with the auditors ’recommendation that his agency should evaluate the effectiveness of the programs.

GAOs Kenney said, We’ve been here for two years and without a review, we can’t really understand if it’s a tool to meet these needs in a national emergency.

Auditors found that DFC did not track how much money it spent on Covid’s supply-chain program but agency officials said at least $ 1 million was spent on filtering the proposals.

The agency’s online materials continue to promote the funding opportunity, but estimates from the agency of how long it will take before funding is approved have ranged from 3 to 4 months to 9 to 15 months, according to the report.

In July 2020, the agency announced a $ 765 million commitment to work with Kodak to produce generic drug components needed in the pandemic. Kodaks stocks rose 570 percent and the company said it plans to expand its existing facilities in Rochester, New York, and St. Louis. Paul, Minnesota.

The deal was subject to immediate investigation and was not pursued.

The agencies ’inspector general reviewed the agreement with Kodak and concluded that there was no evidence of misconduct on the part of DFC officials.

The loan farthest included in the process was an application from a Connecticut -based company called ApiJect, but GAO said the project was to build a new facility that would create 650 jobs to make prefilled injectors for Covid’s vaccine was delayed because the company had encountered delays in securing the necessary property rights for the project area.

ApiJect declined to comment on the report. Someone familiar with the project told NBC News that there was a legal dispute with the property owners.

In April, the agency told NBC News that ApiJect is one of its critical projects in the pipeline of its applications that is undergoing a rigorous process of hard work.

Boehler left DFC in Jan. 20, the day of the inauguration of President Joe Bidens, and replaced by Jagadesan. Boehler declined to comment.

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