“As President Trump tries to defend his sluggish response to the coronavirus pandemic, 18 nongovernmental organizations are pressing against agency vacancies that can hinder federal action.
“We fear that the leadership vacuum in several federal agencies is weakening the nation’s response to the coronavirus pandemic,” the organizations said in a letter to the Republican and Democratic leadership of 14 Senate committees.
That’s a problem for several reasons, but during this covid-19 pandemic there are “no people in some of these key positions that are tasked with responding to what’s going on, at least certainly not permanently confirmed appointees with the power to speak up and do something,” said Peter Jenkins, senior counsel of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, the organization that led the drafting of the letter.”
