[twobuy]

The cache is overseen by the Department of Heath and Human Services. The Senate was not able to confirm a new secretary until January 29, 2018. By all accounts, this was in the wheelhouse of the DNC, and they chose to kick the can down the road.

You can read more about the Department's increasing budget here: https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R45820.pdf

[lucretian]

It took two weeks but I found an answer. It seems to trace to budget cuts forced by the tea party:

https://www.propublica.org/article/us-emergency-medical-stoc...