The law gives the federal government the power to decide how scarce material of national security importance is distributed. For example, during a war, it could use that power to steer steel to a tank factory over an automobile factory.

Mr. Baker said the federal government must consider making aggressive use of this power to allocate ventilators and masks rolling off production lines, so that they are distributed to where they are needed most rather than risk states fighting for them in bidding wars.

“We do not want states competing with each other for the same mask,” Mr. Baker said. “We want best public health practices to determine where resources should flow and in what order.”