I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4710 

To direct the Secretary of Defense to include in each national defense strategy 

steps to strengthen the United States industrial base and to assure 

an uninterrupted supply of medicines, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 17, 2019 

Mr. GARAMENDI (for himself and Mrs. HARTZLER) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services, and in addition to the Committees on Veterans’ Affairs, and Financial Services, for 

a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for 

consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of Defense to include in each national 

defense strategy steps to strengthen the United States 

industrial base and to assure an uninterrupted supply 

of medicines, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Pharmaceutical Inde5 pendence Long-Term Readiness Reform Act’’. 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
2 

•HR 4710 IH

1 SEC. 2. UNITED STATES MEDICINE SUPPLY CHAIN. 

2 (a) NATIONAL DEFENSE STRATEGY.—The Secretary 

3 of Defense shall include, in each national defense strategy 

4 under section 113(g) of title 10, United States Code, steps 

5 to be taken to assure the provision of medicines to enable 

6 combat readiness and force health protection. 

7 (b) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than one year 

8 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 

9 of Defense, in consultation with the heads of other appro10 priate Federal departments and agencies, shall submit to 

11 Congress a report on vulnerabilities to the United States 

12 medicine supply chain. Such report shall include— 

13 (1) an identification of any finished drugs and 

14 their essential components including raw materials, 

15 chemical components and active ingredients nec16 essary for the manufacture of medicines whose sup17 ply is at risk of disruption during a time of war or 

18 national emergency; 

19 (2) an identification of shortages of finished 

20 drugs essential for combat readiness and force pro21 tection; 

22 (3) an identification of the defense and geo23 political contingencies that are sufficiently likely to 

24 arise that may disrupt, strain, compromise, or elimi25 nate supply chains of medicines and their essential 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
3 

•HR 4710 IH

1 components and recommendations for reasonable 

2 preparation for the occurrence of such contingencies; 

3 (4) an assessment of the resilience and capacity 

4 of the current supply chain and industrial base to 

5 support national defense upon the occurrence of the 

6 contingencies identified in paragraph (3), including 

7 with respect to— 

8 (A) the manufacturing capacity of the 

9 United States; 

10 (B) gaps in domestic manufacturing capa11 bilities including non-existent, extinct, threat12 ened, and single-point-of-failure capabilities; 

13 and 

14 (C) supply chains with single points of fail15 ure and limited resiliency; 

16 (5) legislative, regulatory, and policy changes 

17 necessary to avoid, or prepare for, contingencies 

18 identified in the report; and 

19 (6) recommendations to diversify supply away 

20 from complete dependency on sources of supply in 

21 competitor countries and politically unstable coun22 tries that may cut off United States supply, and ad23 dress critical bottlenecks and mitigate single points 

24 of failure and limited resilience. 

25 (c) PREFERENCE FOR MEDICINES.— 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
4 

•HR 4710 IH

1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para2 graph (2) and under section 1107a(d) of title 10, 

3 United States Code, the Secretary of Defense and 

4 the Secretary of Veterans Affairs— 

5 (A) may only acquire and purchase Amer6 ican-made and Federal Drug Administration 

7 approved raw materials, medicines, and vaccines 

8 for the Department of Defense; and 

9 (B) shall use the authorities under the De10 fense Production Act to acquire and purchase 

11 such raw materials, medicines, and vaccines, 

12 recognizing the national security vulnerabilities 

13 of a dependency on a foreign medical supply 

14 chain. 

15 (2) EXCEPTION.—Paragraph (1) does not apply 

16 in any case where the Secretary of Defense deter17 mines that a shortage of any raw material, medicine, 

18 or vaccine is such that it becomes unavoidable to ac19 quire such raw material, medicine, or vaccine from 

20 a trusted foreign supplier. 

21 (3) AMERICAN-MADE.—For purposes of this 

22 subsection, the term ‘‘American-made’’ supplied 

23 from, created, or supplied by the United States, inVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:15 Oct 23, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4710.IH H4710

kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
5 

•HR 4710 IH

1 cluding any territory or possession of the United 

2 States. 

Æ 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS