I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1846 

To amend the Public Health Service Act with respect to hospital 

infrastructure. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 11, 2021 

Mr. O’HALLERAN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend the Public Health Service Act with respect to 

hospital infrastructure. 

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

3 SECTION 1. HOSPITAL INFRASTRUCTURE. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1610(a) of the Public 

5 Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300r(a)) is amended— 

6 (1) in paragraph (1)(A)— 

7 (A) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘or’’ at the 

8 end; and 

9 (B) in clause (ii), by striking the period at 

10 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 


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1 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

2 ‘‘(iii) increase capacity and update hospitals 

3 and other medical facilities in order to better serve 

4 communities in need.’’; and 

5 (2) by striking paragraph (3) and inserting the 

6 following paragraphs: 

7 ‘‘(3) PRIORITY.—In awarding grants under this sub8 section, the Secretary shall give priority to applicants 

9 whose projects will include, by design, public health emer10 gency preparedness or cybersecurity against cyber threats. 

11 ‘‘(4) AMERICAN IRON AND STEEL PRODUCTS.— 

12 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—As a condition on receipt 

13 of a grant under this subsection for a project, an en14 tity shall ensure that all of the iron and steel prod15 ucts used in the project are produced in the United 

16 States. 

17 ‘‘(B) APPLICATION.—Subparagraph (A) shall 

18 be waived in any case or category of cases in which 

19 the Secretary finds that— 

20 ‘‘(i) applying subparagraph (A) would be 

21 inconsistent with the public interest; 

22 ‘‘(ii) iron and steel products are not pro23 duced in the United States in sufficient and 

24 reasonably available quantities and of a satis25 factory quality; or 


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1 ‘‘(iii) inclusion of iron and steel products 

2 produced in the United States will increase the 

3 cost of the overall project by more than 25 per4 cent. 

5 ‘‘(C) WAIVER.—If the Secretary receives a re6 quest for a waiver under this paragraph, the Sec7 retary shall make available to the public, on an in8 formal basis, a copy of the request and information 

9 available to the Secretary concerning the request, 

10 and shall allow for informal public input on the re11 quest for at least 15 days prior to making a finding 

12 based on the request. The Secretary shall make the 

13 request and accompanying information available by 

14 electronic means, including on the official public 

15 internet site of the Department of Health and 

16 Human Services. 

17 ‘‘(D) INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS.—This 

18 paragraph shall be applied in a manner consistent 

19 with United States obligations under international 

20 agreements. 

21 ‘‘(E) MANAGEMENT AND OVERSIGHT.—The 

22 Secretary may retain up to 0.25 percent of the funds 

23 appropriated for this subsection for management 

24 and oversight of the requirements of this paragraph. 


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1 ‘‘(F) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This paragraph does 

2 not apply with respect to a project if a State agency 

3 approves the engineering plans and specifications for 

4 the project, in that agency’s capacity to approve 

5 such plans and specifications prior to a project re6 questing bids, prior to the date of enactment of this 

7 paragraph. 

8 ‘‘(5) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—To 

9 carry out this subsection, there is authorized to be appro10 priated $2,000,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2022 

11 through 2026.’’. 

12 (b) TECHNICAL UPDATE.—Section 1610(b) of the 

13 Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300r(b)) is amended 

14 by striking paragraph (3). 

Æ 


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