[Senate Report 116-319]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
Calendar No. 622
116th Congress} { Report
SENATE
2d Session } { 116-319
======================================================================
PPE SUPPLY CHAIN TRANSPARENCY
ACT OF 2020
__________
R E P O R T
of the
COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND
GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
UNITED STATES SENATE
to accompany
S. 4158
TO EXAMINE THE EXTENT OF THE RELIANCE OF THE UNITED
STATES ON FOREIGN PRODUCERS FOR PERSONAL PROTECTIVE
EQUIPMENT DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC AND PRODUCE
RECOMMENDATIONS TO SECURE THE SUPPLY CHAIN OF PERSONAL PROTECTIVE
EQUIPMENT
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
December 14, 2020.--Ordered to be printed
__________
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
WASHINGTON : 2020
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COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin, Chairman
ROB PORTMAN, Ohio GARY C. PETERS, Michigan
RAND PAUL, Kentucky THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware
JAMES LANKFORD, Oklahoma MAGGIE HASSAN, New Hampshire
MITT ROMNEY, Utah KAMALA D. HARRIS, California
RICK SCOTT, Florida KYRSTEN SINEMA, Arizona
MICHAEL B. ENZI, Wyoming JACKY ROSEN, Nevada
JOSH HAWLEY, Missouri
Gabrielle D'Adamo Singer, Staff Director
Joseph C. Folio III, Chief Counsel
Barrett F. Percival, Professional Staff Member
David M. Weinberg, Minority Staff Director
Zachary I. Schram, Minority Chief Counsel
Christopher J. Mulkins, Minority Deputy Director of Homeland Security
Laura W. Kilbride, Chief Clerk
Calendar No. 622
116th Congress} { Report
SENATE
2d Session } { 116-319
======================================================================
PPE SUPPLY CHAIN TRANSPARENCY ACT OF 2020
_______
December 14, 2020.--Ordered to be printed
_______
Mr. Johnson, from the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs, submitted the following
R E P O R T
[To accompany S. 4158]
The Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs, to which was referred the bill (S. 4158) to examine
the extent of the reliance of the United States on foreign
producers for personal protective equipment during the COVID-19
pandemic and produce recommendations to secure the supply chain
of personal protective equipment, having considered the same,
reports favorably thereon with amendments and an amendment to
the title, and recommends that the bill, as amended, do pass.
CONTENTS
Page
I. Purpose and Summary..............................................1
II. Background and the Need for Legislation..........................2
III. Legislative History..............................................3
IV. Section-by-Section Analysis......................................4
V. Evaluation of Regulatory Impact..................................4
VI. Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate........................4
VII. Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill, as Reported............4
I. PURPOSE AND SUMMARY
The purpose of S. 4158, PPE Supply Chain Transparency Act,
is to require the Administrator of the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA) to produce a report that assesses the
supply chain for personal protective equipment (PPE) during the
COVID-19 pandemic. Following enactment of this bill, the report
must be made available within 90 days to the appropriate
congressional committees and the public. The contents of the
report must include the amount and variation of PPE procured by
FEMA from foreign manufacturers, U.S. manufacturers, and
manufacturers from the People's Republic of China. In addition,
the report must also include legislative recommendations to
improve the domestic supply chain of PPE.
II. BACKGROUND AND THE NEED FOR LEGISLATION
Amid one of the most devastating public health emergencies
in our nation's history, first responders and health care
officials throughout the United States experienced severe
shortages of PPE.\1\ The scarcity of PPE emerged as COVID-19
spread swiftly across the globe, leading some foreign
governments, including the United States, to implement
restrictions on the export of certain PPE.\2\
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\1\Andrew Jacobs, et al., `At War With No Ammo': Doctors Say
Shortage of Protective Gear Is Dire, N.Y. Times (March 19, 2020),
available at https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/19/health/coronavirus-
masks-shortage.html.
\2\Kay C. Georgi, et al., Reference Guide: Worldwide Export
Controls on Face Masks and Other Medical Personal Protective Equipment,
Arent Fox (June 3, 2020), available at https://www.arentfox.com/
perspectives/alerts/reference-guide-worldwide-export-controls-face-
masks-and-other-medical-personal.
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In China, which prior to the COVID-19 pandemic produced 50
percent of the world's PPE, export controls were reportedly
exercised as efforts were focused on addressing COVID-19
domestically.\3\ According to the Peterson Institute for
International Economics, ``[a]s the coronavirus took hold in
China in January and February 2020, there was a considerable
increase in Chinese demand for PPE.''\4\ Consequently, this led
to ``diminishing supplies available to the rest of the
world.''\5\ However, in cases where PPE supplies from China
were delivered, reports indicated that products were at times
defective, rendering them useless in the response.\6\
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\3\Chad Brown, China should export more medical gear to battle
COVID-19, Peterson Institute for International Economics (May 5, 2020)
available at https://www.piie.com/blogs/trade-and-investment-policy-
watch/china-should-export-more-medical-gear-battle-covid-19.
\4\Id.
\5\Id.
\6\Alice Su, Faulty masks. Flawed tests. China's quality control
problem in leading global COVID-19 fight, Los Angeles Times (Apr. 10,
2020) available at https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-04-
10/china-beijing-supply-world-coronavirus-fight-quality-control.
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In the United States, our reliance on the import of PPE
became evident as health officials quickly sounded an alarm
warning of the impending deficiency of PPE inventory.\7\ On
March 30, 2020, FEMA established the Supply Chain Stabilization
Task Force, charged with ``[e]xecuting a whole-of-America
approach to address limited supply of critical protective and
life-saving equipment.''\8\ As part of this effort, the Trump
administration initiated Project Airbridge, a public-private
partnership that transported PPE and other supplies from China,
cutting down the delivery time from approximately 30 days to 48
hours, however, shortages of PPE persisted.\9\ This Committee
has examined the contributing causes of the PPE shortage during
the 2020 coronavirus pandemic through hearings, and other
oversight.\10\
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\7\Id. at 1.
\8\News Release, Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA COVID-19
Supply Chain Task Force: Supply Chain Stabilization (Apr. 8, 2020),
available at https://www.fema.gov/news-release/2020/04/08/fema-covid-
19-supply-chain-task-force-supply-chain-stabilization.
\9\Id.
\10\See Evaluating the Federal Government's Procurement and
Distribution Strategies in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic: Hearing
Before the S. Comm. on Homeland Sec. & Governmental Affairs, 116th
Cong. (2020) (question by Sen. Josh Hawley); The Role of the Strategic
National Stockpile in Pandemic Response: Hearing Before the S. Comm. on
Homeland Sec. & Governmental Affairs, 116th Cong. (2020) (question by
Sen. Josh Hawley).
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To strengthen the United States' PPE supply chain, S. 4158
would require a thorough assessment, through a FEMA report, of
its resilience and current state. This legislation seeks to
contribute to multiple efforts to expand domestic capacity
capability of domestic manufacturers to produce PPE and reduce
our dependence on Chinese PPE imports. As healthcare workers,
first responders, and other personnel continue to address
COVID-19, it is imperative that they are adequately equipped
with quality PPE.
III. LEGISLATIVE HISTORY
Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) introduced S. 4158 on July 2,
2020. The bill was referred to the Committee on Homeland
Security and Governmental Affairs. Senators Margaret Wood
Hassan and Rick Scott later joined as cosponsors.
The Committee considered S. 4158 at a business meeting on
July 22, 2020. During the business meeting, Senator Hawley
offered an amendment that modifies the definition of personal
protective equipment to align with the definition in the CARES
Act.\11\ The amendment was adopted by voice vote with Senators
Johnson, Portman, Paul, Lankford, Romney, Scott, Enzi, Hawley,
Peters, Carper, Hassan, Harris, and Rosen present.
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\11\Pub. L. No. 116-136, 116th Cong. (2020).
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Ranking Member Gary Peters offered an amendment that would
expand the bill's reporting requirements to include a
requirement that the Administrator of FEMA collect all requests
from states and Indian Tribes for PPE and medical supplies and
make recommendations to the President on utilizing the full
authorities available under the Defense Production Act,
including incentivizing domestic production of PPE. Among other
things, it would also direct the President to issue rated
priority purchase orders to procure equipment and supplies,
including PPE, to address current gaps in medical supplies at a
fair and reasonable price.
Senator Jacky Rosen and Josh Hawley offered a second degree
amendment to the Peters amendment to strike the Peters language
and replace it with a requirement that FEMA ``evaluate and
summarize'' how the Defense Production Act has been used during
the COVID-19 response efforts and summarize recommendations for
future use to increase production of PPE. Senators Rosen and
Hawley modified the amendment to strike the word ``evaluate''
and require just the summary of previous efforts and potential
future recommendations. The second degree amendment as modified
was adopted by voice vote, as was the underlying Peters
amendment as amended by it, both with Senators Johnson,
Portman, Paul, Lankford, Romney, Scott, Enzi, Hawley, Peters,
Carper, Hassan, Harris, and Rosen present.
The Committee ordered the bill, as amended by the Hawley
amendment and the Peters amendment as amended by the Rosen-
Hawley second degree amendment as modified, reported favorably,
by voice vote. Senators present were: Johnson, Portman, Paul,
Lankford, Romney, Scott, Enzi, Hawley, Peters, Carper, Hassan,
Harris, and Rosen.
IV. SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS OF THE BILL, AS REPORTED
Section 1. Short title
This section provides the bill's short title as the ``PPE
Supply Chain Transparency Act.''
Section 2. Report
This section defines PPE and requires the FEMA
Administrator to consult with the Secretary of Health and Human
Services to produce a report detailing the resilience of the
PPE supply chain during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. The report
shall be provided to the Committee on Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on
Homeland Security of the House of Representatives, and made
publicly available.
In accordance with this section, the report shall include
an assessment of the volume and percentage of each type of PPE
distributed by or at the direction of FEMA that was procured
from foreign and domestic manufacturers. Additionally, the
report is required to include an examination of the volume and
percentage of PPE (including defective PPE) from manufacturers
in China. The report must also include any challenges
encountered related to procuring PPE from foreign
manufacturers, the forecasted demand for PPE on a monthly basis
for the next year as well as an analysis of whether domestic
production is sufficient to meet that demand, and
recommendations to secure the supply chain of PPE. Finally, the
report must include a summary of the use of authorities
provided under the Defense Production Act in COVID-19 response
efforts and additional options to use such authorities to
increase PPE production in the future.
Lastly, the bill includes a direction to amend the title of
the bill to be: ``A bill to examine the extent of the reliance
of the United States on foreign producers for personal
protective equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic and produce
recommendations to secure the supply chain of personal
protective equipment and to expand domestic production of
personal protective equipment.
V. EVALUATION OF REGULATORY IMPACT
Pursuant to the requirements of paragraph 11(b) of rule
XXVI of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee has
considered the regulatory impact of this bill and determined
that the bill will have no regulatory impact within the meaning
of the rules. The Committee agrees with the Congressional
Budget Office's statement that the bill contains no
intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the
Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) and would impose no costs
on state, local, or tribal governments.
VI. CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE COST ESTIMATE
CBO failed to provide the Committee with a cost estimate in
time for the final reporting deadline of the 116th Congress.
VII. CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW MADE BY THE BILL, AS REPORTED
Because this legislation would not repeal or amend any
provision of current law, it would not make changes in existing
law within the meaning of clauses (a) and (b) of paragraph 12
of rule XXVI of the Standing Rules of the Senate.
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