I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7958 

To grant the authority for States to enter into interstate compacts or 

agreements for the purpose of procuring COVID–19 tests. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

AUGUST 7, 2020 

Ms. CRAIG (for herself and Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on the Judiciary, and the 

Budget, 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 grant the authority for States to enter into interstate 

compacts or agreements for the purpose of procuring 

COVID–19 tests. 

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 ‘‘Suppress COVID–19 

5 Act of 2020’’. 

6 SEC. 2. INTERSTATE COMPACTS AND AGREEMENTS. 

7 (a) ESTABLISHMENT AND PURPOSES.—The consent 

8 of Congress is hereby given to States and Indian Tribes 


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1 to enter into compacts, not in conflict with any law of the 

2 United States, for cooperative effort and mutual assist3 ance in procuring COVID–19 tests and supplies for such 

4 tests, or cooperative agreements (referred to in this section 

5 as ‘‘agreements’’) for cooperative effort and mutual assist6 ance in procuring COVID–19 tests and supplies through 

7 memoranda of understanding. 

8 (b) ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary of Health and 

9 Human Services (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Sec10 retary’’) shall— 

11 (1) take all possible steps to encourage and as12 sist States and Indian Tribes entering into interstate 

13 compacts or agreements under this section; 

14 (2) cooperate with such compacts and agree15 ments; 

16 (3) cooperate with States and Indian Tribes 

17 forming cooperative agreements for cooperative ef18 fort and mutual assistance in procuring COVID–19 

19 tests and supplies for such tests, through memo20 randa of understanding instead of compacts; and 

21 (4) encourage cooperative activities of Federal 

22 departments and agencies with such compacts or 

23 agreements. 

24 (c) FUNDING.— 

25 (1) APPROPRIATION.— 


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1 (A) IN GENERAL.—Effective on the date 

2 that is 30 days after the date of enactment of 

3 this Act, there are authorized to be appro4 priated to the Secretary, and there are hereby 

5 appropriated, out of amounts in the Treasury 

6 not otherwise appropriated, $25,000,000,000, 

7 for purposes of supporting testing procurement. 

8 Of such amount— 

9 (i) $20,000,000,000 shall be made 

10 available to States and Indian Tribes on 

11 the date that is 30 days after such date of 

12 enactment, which States or Indian Tribes 

13 may forward to interstate compacts or 

14 agreements authorized under this section; 

15 and 

16 (ii) $5,000,000,000 shall be reserved 

17 for States and Indian Tribes that enter 

18 into compacts authorized or agreements 

19 recognized under this section. 

20 (B) RESERVATION OF AMOUNTS.—Of the 

21 amounts appropriated under subparagraph (A), 

22 not less than $667,000,000 shall be reserved 

23 for awards to Indian Tribes that shall be dis24 tributed by the Secretary in consultation with 

25 the Indian Health Service. 


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1 (C) EMERGENCY DESIGNATION.— 

2 (i) IN GENERAL.—The amounts pro3 vided by this paragraph are designated as 

4 an emergency requirement pursuant to sec5 tion 4(g) of the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go 

6 Act of 2010 (2 U.S.C. 933(g)). 

7 (ii) DESIGNATION IN SENATE.—In the 

8 Senate, this paragraph is designated as an 

9 emergency requirement pursuant to section 

10 4112(a) of H. Con. Res. 71 (115th Con11 gress), the concurrent resolution on the 

12 budget for fiscal year 2018. 

13 (2) ALLOTMENTS.— 

14 (A) FUNDS FOR STATES.—Out of amounts 

15 appropriated under paragraph (1) and allocated 

16 for the purpose described in paragraph 

17 (1)(A)(i) and not reserved under paragraph 

18 (1)(B), the Secretary shall allot to each State 

19 an amount that bears the same relationship to 

20 the total amount so allocated under paragraph 

21 (1)(A)(i) and not so reserved that the amount 

22 allotted to such State under the State’s Public 

23 Health Emergency Preparedness cooperative 

24 agreement for fiscal year 2019 bears to the 

25 total amount appropriated to the Public Health 


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1 Emergency Preparedness program for fiscal 

2 year 2019 for purposes of making allocations to 

3 States. 

4 (B) ALLOCATIONS FOR STATES ENTERING

5 INTO COMPACTS OR AGREEMENTS.—The Sec6 retary, not later than 45 days after the date of 

7 enactment of this Act, shall allocate the 

8 amounts appropriated under paragraph (1) and 

9 allocated for the purposes described in para10 graph (1)(A)(ii) to eligible States and Indian 

11 Tribes that have entered into a compact or 

12 agreement under this section or stated their in13 tent to enter into such a compact or agreement, 

14 according to a formula established by the Sec15 retary that provides a base amount to each 

16 such State and Indian Tribe, plus an additional 

17 amount based on population. 

18 (d) ELIGIBILITY FOR CERTAIN FUNDING.—A State 

19 or Indian Tribe is eligible for an allocation under sub20 section (c)(2)(B) only if the compact or agreement that 

21 the State or Indian Tribe has joined meets all of the fol22 lowing requirements: 

23 (1) TRANSPARENCY PROVISIONS.—The compact 

24 or agreement shall publicly disclose all contract 

25 sums, terms, requests for proposals, and recipients 


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1 of contracts on a quarterly basis, and shall publicly 

2 disclose, on a quarterly basis, key performance indi3 cators of, with respect to COVID–19 testing used by 

4 the compact or agreement, the price, volume, speed 

5 to market, and test turnaround time. With respect 

6 to new contracts, compacts and agreements shall 

7 give priority to contracting entities that can guar8 antee fulfillment of existing contracts with States or 

9 Indian Tribes. 

10 (2) PROCUREMENT GOVERNING STRUCTURE.— 

11 The compact or agreement shall demonstrate having 

12 consulted with, for purposes of developing contracts 

13 for testing procurement, medical professionals, indi14 viduals with a background in public health, business, 

15 biotechnology, logistics, manufacturing, or procure16 ment. 

17 (3) ANTI-CORRUPTION PROVISIONS.—The com18 pact or agreement shall have in place anti-corruption 

19 requirements that prohibit anyone who is overseeing 

20 the development of the compact or agreement from 

21 personally benefitting from any contract the compact 

22 or agreement enters. 

23 (4) TIMELY TESTING.—The compact or agree24 ment shall have as a goal testing turnaround times 

25 of under 24 hours. 


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1 (e) EXPIRATION.—Amounts appropriated under this 

2 section and made available to States and Indian Tribes 

3 for testing procurement shall remain available until the 

4 later of December 31, 2021, or the date that is 90 days 

5 after the public health emergency declared by the Sec6 retary of Health and Human Services under section 319 

7 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247d), on 

8 January 31, 2020, with respect to COVID–19 expires, 

9 and, on such applicable date, any such funds that remain 

10 unobligated shall be remitted to the Treasury of the 

11 United States. 

12 SEC. 3. STATE PLANS. 

13 (a) IN GENERAL.— 

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—Effective on the date that is 

15 30 days after the date of enactment of this Act, 

16 there are hereby appropriated to the Public Health 

17 and Social Services Emergency Fund, out of 

18 amounts in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, 

19 $18,000,000,000, to remain available until ex20 pended, to prevent, prepare for, and respond to 

21 COVID–19, domestically or internationally, for nec22 essary expenses undertaken by States and Tribal au23 thorities to implement COVID–19 testing, contact 

24 tracing, and supporting isolation programs, and to 

25 otherwise monitor and suppress COVID–19. 


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1 (2) RESERVATION OF AMOUNTS.—Of the 

2 amounts appropriated under subparagraph (A), not 

3 less than $600,000,000 shall be reserved for awards 

4 to Indian Tribes that shall be distributed by the Sec5 retary in consultation with the Indian Health Serv6 ice. 

7 (3) EMERGENCY DESIGNATION.— 

8 (A) IN GENERAL.—The amounts provided 

9 by this subsection are designated as an emer10 gency requirement pursuant to section 4(g) of 

11 the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010 (2 

12 U.S.C. 933(g)). 

13 (B) DESIGNATION IN SENATE.—In the 

14 Senate, this subsection is designated as an 

15 emergency requirement pursuant to section 

16 4112(a) of H. Con. Res. 71 (115th Congress), 

17 the concurrent resolution on the budget for fis18 cal year 2018. 

19 (b) ALLOCATION TO STATES AND INDIAN TRIBES.— 

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—Of the amount appropriated 

21 under subsection (a), $9,000,000,000 shall be allo22 cated to States and Indian Tribes for contact trac23 ing personnel, $4,000,000,000 shall be allocated to 

24 States and Indian Tribes for voluntary self-isolation, 

25 income support for individuals in isolation, or other 


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1 isolation supports, $4,500,000,000 shall be allocated 

2 to States for Tribal and local health offices, and 

3 $500,000,000 shall be allocated to States and Indian 

4 Tribes for data modernization in Tribal and local 

5 health offices. States and Indian Tribes may apply 

6 for a waiver from the Federal Government to use 

7 amounts received under this paragraph for a dif8 ferent purpose than as originally disbursed, provided 

9 that any such other use is consistent with the pur10 poses of this section. States and Indian Tribes shall 

11 take all possible steps to distribute funding received 

12 under this subsection to Tribal and local health of13 fices as promptly as possible. 

14 (2) ALLOCATIONS TO STATES.—Amounts ap15 propriated under subsection (a)(1) and not reserved 

16 under subsection (a)(2) shall be allotted to each 

17 State in an amount that bears the same relationship 

18 to the total amount appropriated under subsection 

19 (a)(1) and not so reserved that the amount that the 

20 State received pursuant to the Public Health Emer21 gency Preparedness cooperative agreement in fiscal 

22 year 2019 bears to the total amount appropriated 

23 under such cooperative agreement for such fiscal 

24 year. 


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1 (3) STATE PLANS.—To be eligible for an alloca2 tion under paragraph (1), a State or Indian Tribe 

3 shall submit to the Secretary a testing, tracing, and 

4 supported isolation plan it intends to follow to 

5 achieve suppression of COVID–19 to levels at or 

6 below the low incidence plateau set forth by the Cen7 ters for Disease Control and Prevention. Such plan 

8 shall be developed in consultation with State, local, 

9 and Tribal public health departments, include key 

10 performance indicators tied to field best practices for 

11 contact tracing and supported isolation as well as 

12 testing, and be submitted as an addendum to any 

13 similar plan a State or Indian Tribe previously sub14 mitted to the Secretary, as required pursuant to the 

15 Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care En16 hancement Act (Public Law 116–139). The Sec17 retary shall make each plan submitted under this 

18 paragraph publicly available 60 days after submis19 sion. 

20 (c) EXPIRATION.—Amounts appropriated under this 

21 section and made available to States and Indian Tribes 

22 for testing procurement shall remain available until the 

23 later of December 31, 2021, or the date that is 90 days 

24 after the public health emergency declared by the Sec25 retary of Health and Human Services under section 319 


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1 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247d), on 

2 January 31, 2020, with respect to COVID–19 expires, 

3 and, on such applicable date, any such funds that remain 

4 unobligated shall be remitted to the Treasury of the 

5 United States. 

6 (d) COORDINATION.—The Secretary shall develop a 

7 plan to coordinate and provide guidance to States and In8 dian Tribes in drafting their testing plans described in this 

9 section and seek to support the development of shared in10 dicators for all States and Indian Tribes. 

11 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

12 For purposes of this Act: 

13 (1) The terms ‘‘COVID–19 test’’, ‘‘COVID–19 

14 testing’’, and ‘‘testing’’ mean a viral or serological in 

15 vitro diagnostic test defined in section 809.3 of title 

16 21, Code of Federal Regulations (or successor regu17 lations) for the detection of SARS–CoV–2 or the di18 agnosis of the virus that causes COVID–19, and the 

19 administration of such test, that— 

20 (A) is approved, cleared, or authorized 

21 under section 510(k), 513, 515, or 564 of the 

22 Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 

23 U.S.C. 360(k), 360c, 360e, 360bbb–3); 

24 (B) the developer has requested, or intends 

25 to request, emergency use authorization under 


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1 section 564 of the Federal Food, Drug, and 

2 Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 360bbb–3), unless and 

3 until the emergency use authorization request 

4 under such section 564 has been denied or the 

5 developer of such test does not submit a request 

6 under such section within a reasonable time7 frame; 

8 (C) is developed in and authorized by a 

9 State that has notified the Secretary of Health 

10 and Human Services of its intention to review 

11 tests intended to diagnose COVID–19; or 

12 (D) is another test that the Secretary de13 termines appropriate in guidance. 

14 (2) The term ‘‘Indian Tribe’’ means an Indian 

15 tribe or a tribal organization, as such terms are de16 fined in section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination 

17 and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304). 

18 (3) The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary 

19 of Health and Human Services. 

20 (4) The term ‘‘State’’ has the meaning given 

21 such term in section 2 of the Public Health Service 

22 Act (42 U.S.C. 201). 

23 SEC. 5. USE OF OTHER APPROPRIATED AMOUNTS. 

24 (a) IN GENERAL.—Out of any amounts remaining 

25 unobligated on the date of enactment of this Act of the 


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1 additional amount of $25,000,000,000 appropriated to the 

2 Public Health and Social Services Emergency Fund under 

3 the heading ‘‘Public Health and Social Services Emer4 gency Fund’’ under the heading ‘‘Office of the Secretary’’ 

5 under the heading ‘‘Department of Health and Human 

6 Services’’ in division B of the Paycheck Protection Pro7 gram and Health Care Enhancement Act (Public Law 

8 116–139) for the purpose of developing, purchasing, ad9 ministering, processing, and analyzing COVID–19 tests, 

10 including support for workforce, epidemiology, use by em11 ployers or in other settings, scale up of testing by public 

12 health, academic, commercial, and hospital laboratories, 

13 and community-based testing sites, health care facilities, 

14 and other entities engaged in COVID–19 testing, conduct 

15 surveillance, trace contacts, and other related activities re16 lated to COVID–19 testing, $7,000,000,000 shall be allo17 cated for the purposes described in subsection (b). 

18 (b) ALLOCATIONS.—Of the $7,000,000,000 reallo19 cated under subsection (a), $234,000,000 shall be propor20 tionately allocated to Indian Tribes, and $6,766,000,000 

21 shall be proportionately allocated to States, together with 

22 other amounts allocated to such Indian Tribes and States 

23 under section 3, for the same purposes described in such 

24 sections and in accordance with the same requirements apVerDate Sep 11 2014 19:48 Aug 28, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7958.IH H7958

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1 plicable with respect to allocations of amounts appro2 priated under such sections. 

3 SEC. 6. REPORT TO CONGRESS. 

4 The Secretary shall report to Congress not later than 

5 30 days after the date of enactment of this Act on how 

6 the Secretary intends to distribute funds provided under 

7 this Act, including a timeline of distribution of such funds. 

Æ 


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