[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.
                                 ______