<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><BillSummaries>
<item congress="116" measure-type="hr" measure-number="6398" measure-id="id116hr6398" originChamber="HOUSE" orig-publish-date="2020-03-26" update-date="2020-05-28">
<title>Frontline Health Care Workers Assistance Act</title>
<summary summary-id="id116hr6398v00" currentChamber="HOUSE" update-date="2020-05-28">
<action-date>2020-03-26</action-date>
<action-desc>Introduced in House</action-desc>
<summary-text><![CDATA[<p><b>Frontline Health Care Workers Assistance Act</b></p> <p>This bill directs certain actions to procure equipment necessary to prevent, identify, and mitigate cases of COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019).</p> <p>The National Response Coordination Center of the Federal Emergency Management Agency must, within seven days,&nbsp;submit a report to Congress and the President that (1) assesses the need for equipment, including personal protective equipment and ventilators, across the United States; and (2) identifies the industry sectors and manufacturers&nbsp;capable of fulfilling purchase orders for such equipment, as well as government-owned and privately owned stockpiles of such equipment that could be refurbished. </p> <p>Within 24 hours, the President must issue a purchase order with the highest priority rating under the Defense Priorities and Allocations System (DPAS) for a specified number of N-95 respirators and face masks. (DPAS is used to prioritize national defense-related contracts, subcontracts, and purchase orders.) Within seven days of receiving the center's report, the President must also issue priority purchase orders for the equipment identified in the report under authorities provided by the Defense Production Act of 1950. (That act confers upon the President a broad set of authorities to influence domestic industry in order to provide essential materials and goods for the national defense.) The bill waives certain requirements under the act related to congressional notification and authorization and makes specified funds available for these efforts. </p>]]></summary-text>
</summary>
</item>
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<dc:language>EN</dc:language>
<dc:rights>Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.</dc:rights>
<dc:contributor>Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress</dc:contributor>
<dc:description>This file contains bill summaries for federal legislation. A bill summary describes the most significant provisions of a piece of legislation and details the effects the legislative text may have on current law and federal programs. Bill summaries are authored by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) of the Library of Congress. As stated in Public Law 91-510 (2 USC 166 (d)(6)), one of the duties of CRS is "to prepare summaries and digests of bills and resolutions of a public general nature introduced in the Senate or House of Representatives". For more information, refer to the User Guide that accompanies this file.</dc:description>
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