Bipartisan legislation was introduced in the House last week to boost U.S. supply chains and foster domestic manufacturing of “critical goods” by creating a Supply Chain Resiliency and Crisis Response Office in the Department of Commerce.
The Building Resilient Supply Chains Act was introduced by Rep. Tom Malinowski, D-N.J., along with Reps. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., and Lisa Blunt Rochester, D-Del.— members of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
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In addition to creating the supply chain office within Commerce, the bill would authorize $45 billion for the office to create grants and loans that support the “expansion of domestic manufacturing of critical goods and services, industrial equipment, and manufacturing technology.
“We’ve learned many hard lessons during the pandemic – among them, we should never be dependent on strategic adversaries like China for the goods we need to keep America safe and secure,” said Malinowski in a press release. “Whether it’s the PPE that protects us from disease, the chips that power our cars, computers, and cellphones, or the key materials used in electric vehicles and solar panels, we need to shore up our capacity to produce these things here at home – and that’s what this bill will enable us to do.”
President Biden’s American Jobs Plan called for creating this office at Commerce and comparable funding levels being made available for such an office. In June 2021, the Biden Administration released a report pursuant to Executive Order 14017, which highlighted the need for an office at Commerce with robust funding to address supply chain vulnerabilities.
“The bipartisan Building Resilient Supply Chains Act will help expand American capacity to produce the key components for so many of the products we rely on every single day – and in the process, will make our economy more competitive, reliable, and sustainable,” said Rep. Blunt Rochester.
