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WASHINGTON, DC – Today, the House Energy and Commerce Committee passed bipartisan legislation to overhaul the Strategic National Stockpile, including a provision by Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (D-MI) to boost domestic manufacturing to make critical medical supplies needed to fight COVID-19 in America. 

Introduced by Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), the Strengthening America’s Strategic National Stockpile Act is a major bipartisan package that includes provisions to also reduce America’s dependence on foreign sources of critical medical supplies and make much-needed improvements and updates to America’s Strategic National Stockpile. 

"The coronavirus crisis has shined a light on cracks in our society and economic foundations,” said Dingell. “Cracks in the supply chain and decades of weakening domestic manufacturing left us unable to respond in a quick and efficient manner. We must address issues with the Strategic National Stockpile. My bipartisan legislation will enhance medical supply chain manufacturing domestically and improve our national security."

The bill includes provisions originally introduced by Dingell and Congresswoman Jackie Walorski (R-IN) as the Medical Supplies for Pandemics Act which would strengthen the Strategic National Stockpile to improve the federal ability to respond to future disasters and pandemics as a matter of national security. The Dingell-Walorski bill includes enhancing medical supply chain elasticity, diversifying the production of personal protective equipment, and partnering with industry to refresh and replenish existing stocks of medical supplies.

The Strengthening America’s Strategic National Stockpile Act combines several bipartisan bills previously introduced to spur domestic manufacturing and strengthen the stockpile, a repository of critical supplies and medicines maintained by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to respond to public health emergencies. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the stockpile has been unable to fulfill urgent needs in the states for personal protective equipment, ventilators and other supplies to fight the pandemic, failing to fulfill requests for supplies or providing expired our outdated items.

The legislation passed by Committee today will, if enacted: 

• Make sure stockpile items are in good working order and ready to use if and when a crisis hits. Will ensure items in the stockpile are in good working order and aren’t expired by requiring regular maintenance.
   
• Increase manufacturing of critical supplies in America. Will boost domestic production of critical supplies by establishing a $500 million pilot program to diversify sources of personal protective equipment and partnering with industry to replenish existing stocks. 

• Improve stockpile financial security and reduce waste by allowing the transfer of stockpile items nearing their expiration dates to other federal agencies.

• Bring transparency to past stockpile allocations. Will require the administration to report to Congress on all state, local, tribal and territorial requests for stockpile supplies during the pandemic and the response to each request.

• Bring transparency to process for stockpile allocations. Will require development of improved, transparent processes for distribution of goods from the stockpile and provide the states with clear, transparent guidelines on how to request distributions from the stockpile.

• Take steps to return money to taxpayers when companies profit off of SNS products. Will explore the possibility of further strengthening the stockpile financially by requiring a Government Accountability Office study on implementing a user fee to reimburse the stockpile for items such as antitoxins, for which it is the sole provider and for which health care providers or others may charge patients. 

• Support states’ readiness in a public health emergency. Will establish a pilot program to support state efforts to expand and maintain their own stockpiles.

• Put more resources behind the SNS. This legislation will also provide increased resources for the stockpile by raising annual authorized funding for its operations from $610 million to $705 million for fiscal years 2020 through 2023.

Slotkin introduced the Strengthening America’s Strategic National Stockpile Act. Original cosponsors are Reps. Debbie Dingell (D-MI), Susan Brooks (R-IN), Anna Eshoo (D-CA), Earl L. Buddy Carter (R-GA), Jackie Walorski (R-IN), Diana DeGette (D-CO), David McKinley (R-WV), G.K. Butterfield (D-NC), Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ), Darren Soto (D-FL), Fred Upton (R-MI), Tom Malinowski (D-NJ), Richard Hudson (R-NC), Kim Schier (D-WA), Greg Gianforte (R-MT), Gil Cisneros (D-CA), Joe Neguse (D-CO), and Michael Burgess (R-TX).

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