>why didn't Congress create a bigger stockpile and why didn't it ensure it was maintained? You'd have to interview the responsible people at the time, which I

>why didn't Congress create a bigger stockpile and why didn't it ensure it was maintained? You'd have to interview the responsible people at the time, which I doubt is going to happen right now. But the obvious answer is "nobody thought it was worth the money to do that." >Is it leaving responsibilities to Congress that ought to be delegated to an agency? It is definitely not only this. Even if responsibility were delegated, Congress (House of Representatives) has to allocate the money and is also where tax legislation originates. So a responsible agency can still be starved of funds to actually operate. Heck that is true even for executive-funded agencies like the CFPB, which the administration has tried to kill through zero funding, multiple times. >Is there are ideological I think this is vast majority of the problem. One party, without naming it, is basically only about two things: 1) tax cuts as a policy solution for all problems, and 2) thoughts and prayers when anything bad happens (mass shootings, etc.) and minimal willingness to enact any changes to stop it from happening again. That same political party is jammed to the gills with an anti-science, anti-expert, anti-vaccine, anti-government, etc attitude and will likely continue failing to take steps to address incoming issues, until they are on our doorstep already manifesting problems -and at that time the cost of dealing with it will be far higher in lives and money than it could have been. Just look at the chief executive, who wants the country "reopened by easter" despite all advice from medical experts. The ideology here is: lets sacrifice millions of people on the altar of the free market.