[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3921 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3921

   To require the Federal Government to provide critical health care 
            resources in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              June 9, 2020

  Mr. Sanders introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To require the Federal Government to provide critical health care 
            resources in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Emergency Medical Supplies 
Procurement Act''.

SEC. 2. FEDERAL PROVISION OF CRITICAL HEALTH CARE RESOURCES.

    (a) Requirement To Provide Critical Health Care Resources.--
            (1) In general.--The President, acting through the 
        Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and 
        in consultation with the Secretary of Health and Human Services 
        and the head of any other relevant Federal agency, shall 
        fulfill, to the greatest extent possible and with due urgency, 
        according to need, all requests from States for critical health 
        care resources that are required to support medical providers, 
        treat patients, or promote the general well-being in response 
        to, or to recover from, the outbreak of COVID-19.
            (2) Use of authorities.--To carry out paragraph (1), the 
        President shall make use of any and all available authorities 
        at the disposal of the Federal Government to procure, 
        manufacture, and support the manufacturing of critical health 
        care resources, including emergency authorities such as the 
        Defense Production Act of 1950 (50 U.S.C. 4511 et seq.), the 
        National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.), and the 
        Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act 
        (42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq.).
            (3) Determination of emergency end date.--The Secretary of 
        Health and Human Services and the Administrator of the Federal 
        Emergency Management Agency shall jointly--
                    (A) determine the date on which all requests from 
                States for critical health care resources related to 
                the outbreak of COVID-19 are fulfilled or otherwise 
                resolved, which shall not be earlier than the day after 
                the date on which no new cases of COVID-19 are reported 
                in the United States for a period of not less than 14 
                consecutive days; and
                    (B) promptly submit to Congress and the Secretary 
                of the Treasury a certification indicating the date 
                determined under subparagraph (A).
    (b) Reports to Congress.--Not later than 7 days after the date of 
enactment of this Act, and every 7 days thereafter until the COVID-19 
emergency end date, the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the 
Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency shall jointly 
submit to Congress a report on the implementation of and activities 
authorized by this section, including information on--
            (1) the use of funds;
            (2) the number of requests received from States for 
        critical health care resources, including the contents of the 
        requests and the dates on which the requests are received and 
        fulfilled;
            (3) if any State request received has not been fulfilled or 
        has been partially fulfilled, the reasons why the request was 
        not fully fulfilled;
            (4) the distribution of critical health care resources by 
        State, geographic area, and need;
            (5) the criteria or methodology used to guide the 
        prioritization of State requests and the distribution of 
        critical health care resources; and
            (6) the sources of the critical health care resources 
        provided to States, including the prices paid by the Federal 
        Government for such critical health care resources and to which 
        suppliers such amounts were paid.
    (c) Funding; Limitations.--
            (1) Funding.--There is appropriated, out of amounts in the 
        Treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the fiscal year ending 
        September 30, 2020, to remain available until the COVID-19 
        emergency end date, $75,000,000,000 to the Federal Emergency 
        Management Agency to carry out this section.
            (2) Limitation.--No funds made available under this section 
        shall be provided to--
                    (A) any person who is a Federal elected official or 
                serving in a Senior Executive Service position; or
                    (B) any entity that is controlled in whole or in 
                part by a Federal elected official or serving in a 
                Senior Executive Service position.
            (3) Emergency designation.--
                    (A) In general.--The amounts provided under this 
                section are designated as an emergency requirement 
                pursuant to section 4(g) of the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go 
                Act of 2010 (2 U.S.C. 933(g)).
                    (B) Designation in senate.--In the Senate, this 
                section is designated as an emergency requirement 
                pursuant to section 4112(a) of H. Con. Res. 71 (115th 
                Congress), the concurrent resolution on the budget for 
                fiscal year 2018.
    (d) Definitions.--In this section--
            (1) the term ``COVID-19 emergency end date'' means the date 
        on which all requests from States for critical health care 
        resources related to the outbreak of COVID-19 are fulfilled or 
        otherwise resolved, as certified by the Administrator of the 
        Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Secretary of Health 
        and Human Services under subsection (a)(3);
            (2) the term ``critical health care resources'' includes--
                    (A) personal protective equipment (such as surgical 
                masks, N-95 respirator masks, surgical gowns, and face 
                visors);
                    (B) ventilators;
                    (C) testing reagents and compounds;
                    (D) approved vaccines, therapeutics, diagnostics, 
                pharmaceuticals, small molecule active pharmaceutical 
                ingredients, and other necessary drugs;
                    (E) ancillary medical supplies, and other 
                applicable supplies required for the administration of 
                drugs, vaccines and other biological products, medical 
                devices, and diagnostic tests; and
                    (F) other medical supplies or hospital 
                infrastructure, as necessary;
            (3) the term ``Senior Executive Service position'' has the 
        meaning given that term in section 3132(a) of title 5, United 
        States Code; and
            (4) the term ``State'' means--
                    (A) each of the several States of the United 
                States;
                    (B) the District of Columbia;
                    (C) the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico;
                    (D) Guam;
                    (E) American Samoa;
                    (F) the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana 
                Islands;
                    (G) the Federated States of Micronesia;
                    (H) the Republic of the Marshall Islands;
                    (I) the Republic of Palau;
                    (J) the United States Virgin Islands; and
                    (K) an Indian tribe, as defined in section 4(e) of 
                the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance 
                Act (25 U.S.C. 5304(e)).
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