I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 171 

To require the Secretary of Commerce to establish a task force to identify 

vulnerabilities in supply chains for United States entities, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 4, 2021 

Ms. STEVENS (for herself and Mr. BALDERSON) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Commerce to establish a task 

force to identify vulnerabilities in supply chains for 

United States entities, 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 ‘‘Resilient Manufac5 turing Task Force Act of 2021’’. 

6 SEC. 2. RESILIENT MANUFACTURING TASK FORCE. 

7 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 

8 (1) the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary 

9 of Commerce; 


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1 (2) the term ‘‘supply chain bottleneck’’ means 

2 a limitation in a production value chain that re3 stricts the overall speed or reliability of the manu4 facturing process; 

5 (3) the term ‘‘Task Force’’ means the Resilient 

6 Manufacturing Task Force established under sub7 section (c)(1); and 

8 (4) the term ‘‘veteran’’ has the meaning given 

9 the term in section 101 of title 38, United States 

10 Code. 

11 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con12 gress that— 

13 (1) the COVID–19 pandemic has— 

14 (A) exposed significant vulnerabilities in 

15 the manufacturing sector of the economy of the 

16 United States; and 

17 (B) led to equipment shortages, supply 

18 chain bottlenecks, and workforce misalignments; 

19 (2) the vulnerabilities described in paragraph 

20 (1) go largely unnoticed until they are revealed by 

21 disease outbreaks, cyber attacks, natural disasters, 

22 and other emergencies; 

23 (3) the crises described in paragraph (2) 

24 produce valuable information, the collection and 

25 analysis of which can inform policies to fortify the 


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1 economy of the United States against future threats; 

2 and 

3 (4) the responsibility for promoting national 

4 economic resilience lies with the Federal Govern5 ment, which must not miss the opportunity pre6 sented by the COVID–19 pandemic to learn from 

7 that crisis and prepare the United States to better 

8 withstand future emergencies. 

9 (c) RESILIENT MANUFACTURING TASK FORCE.— 

10 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.— 

11 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days 

12 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec13 retary, in coordination with the Secretary of 

14 Defense, the Secretary of Energy, and the 

15 heads of any other Federal agencies that the 

16 Secretary determines appropriate, shall estab17 lish the Resilient Manufacturing Task Force. 

18 (B) RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE SEC19 RETARY.—In carrying out subparagraph (A), 

20 the Secretary, in coordination with the officials 

21 described in that subparagraph, shall— 

22 (i) determine— 

23 (I) the number of members who 

24 shall comprise the Task Force; and 


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1 (II) the qualifications of the 

2 members described in subclause (I); 

3 (ii) appoint the members of the Task 

4 Force; and 

5 (iii) establish procedures regarding 

6 the operation of the Task Force, including 

7 by determining the frequency with which 

8 the Task Force shall meet. 

9 (2) DUTIES.—The duties of the Task Force 

10 shall be the following: 

11 (A) To identify critical vulnerabilities in 

12 the supply chains of products and resources 

13 that are essential to the economic security of 

14 the United States, focusing in particular on 

15 vulnerabilities that have been exacerbated by 

16 the COVID–19 pandemic. 

17 (B) To mitigate the vulnerabilities de18 scribed in subparagraph (A) by developing 

19 plans for the following: 

20 (i) The formation of a National Man21 ufacturing Guard, which shall be a reserve 

22 of industry volunteers who are trained and 

23 empowered to, in times of crisis, help man24 age manufacturing supply chains, logistics 

25 infrastructure, and workforce resources. 


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1 (ii) The establishment of a Supply 

2 Chain Data Exchange, which shall support 

3 the National Manufacturing Guard de4 scribed in clause (i) by providing real-time, 

5 centralized information on a national scale 

6 regarding, with respect to manufacturing 

7 supply chains, inventory, capacity, re8 sources, and supply chain bottlenecks. 

9 (iii) The formation of a Technology 

10 Corps to serve as a workforce pipeline that 

11 prioritizes manufacturing skills that the 

12 Task Force and the National Manufac13 turing Guard described in clause (i) deter14 mine to be essential to the economic secu15 rity of the United States. 

16 (C) In carrying out subparagraph (B)(iii), 

17 to pay particular attention to increasing edu18 cational and training opportunities for under19 represented minorities, women, and veterans. 

20 (3) ADVICE.—In carrying out the duties of the 

21 Task Force, the Task Force shall seek to obtain ex22 pertise from the public and private sectors, including 

23 from— 

24 (A) manufacturing extension centers cre25 ated and supported under the Hollings ManuVerDate Sep 11 2014 17:52 Jan 29, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H171.IH H171

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1 facturing Extension Partnership established 

2 under section 25 of the National Institute of 

3 Standards and Technology Act (15 U.S.C. 

4 278k); 

5 (B) industry consortia and trade groups; 

6 (C) private business entities, including 

7 small manufacturers; 

8 (D) Federal, State, and local government 

9 specialists, including economic policymakers and 

10 military logistics experts; 

11 (E) academic and research institutions; 

12 (F) labor organizations; and 

13 (G) Manufacturing USA institutes de14 scribed in section 34(d) of the National Insti15 tute of Standards and Technology Act (15 

16 U.S.C. 278s(d)). 

17 (4) TERMINATION.—The Task Force shall ter18 minate on the date that is 1 year after the date on 

19 which the Secretary establishes the Task Force 

20 under paragraph (1). 

21 (5) APPLICABILITY.—The Federal Advisory 

22 Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.) shall not apply with 

23 respect to the Task Force or the activities of the 

24 Task Force. 


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1 (d) REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.—The Secretary 

2 shall— 

3 (1) not later than 90 days after the date of en4 actment of this Act, submit to Congress a report re5 garding the formation of the Task Force, which 

6 shall contain— 

7 (A) an identification of the members of the 

8 Task Force, the respective areas of expertise of 

9 those members, and the expected roles of those 

10 members; and 

11 (B) a preliminary plan for carrying out the 

12 duties of the Task Force, including forecasts 

13 for costs, a preliminary timeline with respect to 

14 the activities of the Task Force, and the ex15 pected resource needs of the Task Force; and 

16 (2) not later than 90 days after the date on 

17 which the Task Force terminates, submit to Con18 gress a report containing— 

19 (A) a description of the activities of the 

20 Task Force during the 1-year period in which 

21 the Task Force was in effect; 

22 (B) a comprehensive description of how the 

23 Task Force carried out the duties of the Task 

24 Force described in subsection (c)(2), which 


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1 shall include any related policy recommenda2 tions; 

3 (C) a recommendation regarding whether 

4 Congress should establish a Resilient Manufac5 turing Advisory Council to continue the role of 

6 the Task Force on an extended or permanent 

7 basis; and 

8 (D) if applicable, a proposal outlining, with 

9 respect to the Council described in subpara10 graph (C)— 

11 (i) the scope and activities of the 

12 Council; and 

13 (ii) the funding and resource require14 ments of the Council. 

15 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

16 are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary 

17 $5,000,000 for the period of fiscal years 2021 through 

18 2022 to carry out this section, which shall remain avail19 able until expended. 

Æ 


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