Securing America's Vaccines for Emergencies Act of 2021

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 3146, the Securing America's Vaccines for Emergencies Act, the SAVE Act. I want to thank my friend from California, Juan Vargas, a colleague on the House Financial Services Committee, for our collaboration on looking at the Defense Production Act--we are going to talk about it today--and how we could improve it for better preparing the United States for a global pandemic.

The SAVE Act amends that Defense Production Act to protect medical supplies for Americans by bolstering our supply chain during times of crisis. The Defense Production Act, as my friend, Mr. Cleaver, noted, was first signed into law by President Truman in 1950 in response to a shortage of materials during the Korean conflict.

Designed to incentivize production, avoid inflation, and, as I say, boost goods critical for the national defense, the DPA successfully brought American manufacturing to the forefront at the battle at hand at that time.

Initially, the Defense Production Act, as you can tell by its name, was used in response for military needs, but over time the United States Congress has expanded it to other areas considered essential to national defense, and those include critical responses to national emergencies.

When President Truman signed the DPA, he shared: It is your fight, the fight of all of us, and it can be won only if all of us in the fight can fight it together. At that time, he was saying that in response to the Korean conflict, but this quote still resonates with us now the same way as it did so long ago.

A little over a year ago, our country faced another nationwide crisis that called on the need for the Defense Production Act to be placed in the American spotlight. In response to a global health crisis, America experienced shortages of necessary medical supplies, basically overnight.

Supply chains were tested like never before, and it became increasingly clear that America needed to do something different in order to respond to the alarming increase in demand for medical gloves, N95 masks, and ventilators.

In my home State of Arkansas, our hospitals had medical materials stacked from floor to ceiling stamped ``Made in China.'' And much of those supplies, Mr. Speaker, in the PPE category ended up rejected and put in a dumpster because they did not meet the quality standards; they were out of compliance.

Our national and State emergency stockpiles were prepared for a localized outbreak, not a national 50-State pandemic. Fortunately, President Trump invoked the Defense Production Act, which allowed for greater domestic manufacturing of these necessary medical supplies. And while that was taking effect, the hospitals and our great Arkansas business, academic, and medical community banded together to be able to coordinate critical supply purchases, and even locally, manufacture badly needed face shields to protect patients and health professionals alike.

Even more alarming than the lack of supplies might be our reliance on countries, particularly China, for basic pharmaceutical components. Our Nation must develop a strategy to diversify our supply chain to ensure that we are not in that same short supply situation in the future. In my view, last spring, Mr. Speaker, we were caught without such critical planning.

That is why I introduced the SAVE Act in April of last year when we were first responding to these challenges, and I am pleased to have reintroduced it this year with my friend and colleague, Congressman Vargas. This bill amends the DPA to ensure that medical materials are within that Defense Production Act scope.

While all of us hope that we are nearing the finish line of COVID-19, we cannot forget about the shortages that we once faced, because the reality is, unfortunately, perhaps likely, this country will face the same situation again.

This bill allows us to be better prepared for that future, whether it be in the short, medium, or long run. It will allow us to diversify supply chains that are required for our national defense. It will permit the United States to be less reliant on foreign countries like China for critical PPE or, most importantly, pharmaceutical ingredients or other medical products.

The SAVE Act requires a national strategy and progress reports on the diversification of that essential medical supply chain. At the same time, it makes explicit that our strategy needs to take into account cooperation with our allies. We must maintain a strong trading environment that fosters continued innovation. Making critical supply chains more resilient doesn't mean closing ourselves off from our friends around the world in partnership on these important items.

Just to cite one example, Mr. Speaker, the Pfizer vaccine against COVID-19 consists of 280 components sourced from 86 sites across 19 countries. International cooperation makes treatments like this possible. But we must ensure these items don't fall under the exclusive control of an adversary. My legislation will help prevent that.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from California, Mr. Vargas. We will be talking about this when we discuss his bill in a few minutes. We have collaborated on this, and it is about planning, it is about a strategy, it is about not being caught at low tide with no bathing suit, and that is what this country needs is a better strategy.

President Bush warned us of that after he studied this issue when he was President. The stockpiles are important. Our FEMA planning is important. But our medical supply chain and those critical components are critical to the health and safety of our country. It is critical to our ability to defend ourselves, and hence, an appropriate amendment to the Defense Production Act.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I urge a ``yes'' vote on both sides of the aisle, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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