[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 156 (Tuesday, September 27, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5092-S5093]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SA 5739. Mr. PADILLA submitted an amendment intended to be proposed
to amendment SA 5499 submitted by Mr. Reed (for himself and Mr. Inhofe)
and intended to be proposed to the bill H.R. 7900, to authorize
appropriations for fiscal year 2023 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 appropriate place in title II, insert the following:
SEC. __. SUPPORT FOR RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT OF
BIOINDUSTRIAL MANUFACTURING PROCESSES.
(a) Authorization.--Subject to the availability of
appropriations, the Secretary of Defense shall provide
support to manufacturing innovation institutes for the
research and development of innovative bioindustrial
manufacturing processes and the development of a network of
bioindustrial manufacturing facilities to improve the ability
of the industrial base to use such processes for the
production of chemicals, materials, and other products
necessary to support national security or secure fragile
supply chains.
(b) Form of Support.--The support provided under subsection
(a) may consist of--
(1) the establishment of one or more manufacturing
innovation institutes specializing in the research and
development of bioindustrial manufacturing processes;
(2) providing funding to one or more existing manufacturing
innovation institutes--
(A) to support the research and development of
bioindustrial manufacturing processes; or
(B) to otherwise expand the bioindustrial manufacturing
capabilities of such institutes;
(3) the establishment of dedicated facilities within one or
more manufacturing innovation institutes to serve as regional
hubs for the research, development, and the scaling of
bioindustrial manufacturing processes and products to higher
levels of production; or
(4) designating a manufacturing innovation institute to
serve as the lead entity responsible for integrating a
network of pilot and intermediate scale bioindustrial
manufacturing facilities.
(c) Activities.--A manufacturing innovation institute that
receives support under subsection (a) shall carry out
activities relating to the research, development, test, and
evaluation of innovative bioindustrial manufacturing
processes and the scaling of bioindustrial manufacturing
products to higher levels of production, which may include--
(1) research on the use of bioindustrial manufacturing to
create materials such as polymers, coatings, resins,
commodity chemicals, and other materials with fragile supply
chains;
(2) demonstration projects to evaluate bioindustrial
manufacturing processes and technologies;
(3) activities to scale bioindustrial manufacturing
processes and products to higher levels of production;
(4) strategic planning for infrastructure and equipment
investments for bioindustrial manufacturing of defense-
related materials;
(5) analyses of bioindustrial manufactured products and
validation of the application of biological material used as
input to new and
[[Page S5093]]
existing processes to aid in future investment strategies and
the security of critical supply chains;
(6) the selection, construction, and operation of pilot and
intermediate scale bioindustrial manufacturing facilities;
(7) development and management of a network of facilities
to scale production of bioindustrial products;
(8) activities to address workforce needs in bioindustrial
manufacturing;
(9) establishing an interoperable, secure, digital
infrastructure for collaborative data exchange across
entities in the bioindustrial manufacturing community,
including government agencies, industry, and academia;
(10) developing and implementing digital tools, process
security and assurance capabilities, cybersecurity protocols,
and best practices for data storage, sharing and analysis;
and
(11) such other activities as the Secretary of Defense
determines appropriate.
(d) Considerations.--In determining the number, type, and
location of manufacturing innovation institutes or facilities
to support under subsection (a), the Secretary of Defense
shall consider--
(1) how the institutes or facilities may complement each
other by functioning as a together as a network;
(2) how to geographically distribute support to such
institutes or facilities--
(A) to maximize access to biological material needed as an
input to bioindustrial manufacturing processes;
(B) to leverage available industrial and academic
expertise;
(C) to leverage relevant domestic infrastructure required
to secure supply chains for chemicals and other materials;
and
(D) to complement the capabilities of other manufacturing
innovation institutes and similar facilities; and
(3) how the activities supported under this section can be
coordinated with relevant activities of other departments and
agencies of the Federal Government.
(e) Plan Required.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 180 days after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall
submit to the appropriate congressional committees and the
National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology a plan
for the implementation of this section that includes--
(A) a description of types, relative sizes, and locations
of the manufacturing innovation institutes or facilities the
Secretary intends to establish or support under this section;
(B) a general description of the focus of each institute or
facility, including the types of bioindustrial manufacturing
equipment, if any, that are expected to be procured for each
such institute or facility;
(C) a general description of how the institutes and
facilities will work as a network to maximize the diversity
of bioindustrial products available to be produced by the
network;
(D) an explanation of how the network will support the
establishment and maintenance of the bioindustrial
manufacturing industrial base; and
(E) an explanation of how the Secretary intends to ensure
that bioindustrial manufacturing activities conducted under
this section are modernized digitally, including through--
(i) the use of a data automation to represent processes and
products as models and simulations; and
(ii) the implementation of measures to address
cybersecurity and process assurance concerns.
(2) Briefings.--Not later than 180 days after the date of
the submittal of the plan under paragraph (1), and biannually
thereafter for five years, the Secretary of Defense shall
provide to the appropriate congressional committees a
briefing on the progress toward the implementation of the
plan.
(f) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) The term ``appropriate congressional committees''
means--
(A) the congressional defense committees;
(B) the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of
the Senate; and
(C) the Committee on Agriculture and the Committee on
Science, Space, and Technology of the House of
Representatives.
(2) The term ``bioindustrial manufacturing'' means the use
of living organisms, cells, tissues, enzymes, or cell-free
systems to produce materials and products for non-
pharmaceutical applications.
(3) The term ``manufacturing innovation institute'' means a
Manufacturing USA institute (as described in section 34(d) of
the National Institute of Standards and Technology Act (15
U.S.C. 278s(d))) that is funded by the Department of Defense.
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