[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 99 (Thursday, June 13, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S3586]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 577. Mr. MENENDEZ submitted an amendment intended to be proposed 
by him to the bill S. 1790, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 
2020 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military 
construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, 
to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for 
other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

       At the end of subtitle C of title VII, add the following:

     SEC. 729. COMPTROLLER GENERAL REPORT ON USE OF PLANT-BASED 
                   VACCINES.

       (a) In General.--Not later than 180 days after the date of 
     the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the 
     United States shall submit to Congress a report examining the 
     use of plant-based vaccines by the Department of Defense in 
     order to respond quickly to epidemics and pandemics.
       (b) Elements.--The report required by subsection (a) shall 
     include an assessment of the following:
       (1) Whether the use of plant-based vaccines can supplement 
     current requirements for force protection, include vaccines 
     against endemic disease threats as well as biological warfare 
     or bioterrorism agents.
       (2) Whether the development of plant-based vaccines can 
     help the Secretary of Defense coordinate pandemic response 
     plans with the Secretary of Homeland Security and the 
     Secretary of Health and Human Services.
       (3) Whether plant-based vaccines, in addition to mammalian-
     based vaccines, can allow the Secretary of Defense to best 
     respond to pandemic outbreaks.
       (c) Follow-up on Previous Report.--The report required by 
     subsection (a) shall include a follow-up on the February 2017 
     report by the Comptroller General entitled ``DOD, HHS, and 
     DHS Should Use Existing Coordination Mechanisms to Improve 
     Their Pandemic Preparedness''.
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