Last progress January 23, 2025 (10 months ago)
Introduced on January 23, 2025 by H. Morgan Griffith
Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
This bill focuses on making more personal protective equipment (PPE) in the United States and keeping steady supplies ready for health emergencies. It tells the Department of Health and Human Services to partner with U.S. companies so factories and supply lines can quickly make PPE when needed. The PPE must meet CDC and OSHA safety rules, have FDA clearance when required, and use fair-market pricing. The agency must set up the purchasing process within one year, and the deals are meant to guarantee both supply and manufacturing capacity during emergencies. To take part, companies must be based in the continental U.S., be majority U.S.-owned, have secure supply chains, and move their federal-order production to 50% U.S.-made in 2026, 75% in 2027, and 100% in 2028.
The bill also says the federal government, and state or local governments using federal funds, can only buy infection-control clothing and equipment that is made in the U.S., with narrow exceptions that must be explained in writing. In addition, HHS must report within a year on how federal PPE rules changed since COVID-19 began and how those changes affected frontline doctors and other medical workers in 2020 and 2021.