Title: Pharmaceutical Independence Long-Term Readiness Reform Act
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security

Summary:
Pharmaceutical Independence Long-Term Readiness Reform Act
This bill generally requires the Department of Defense (DOD) and the Department of Veterans Affairs to only purchase American-made medicines and vaccines. DOD must also (1) report to Congress on medicine supply-chain vulnerabilities, and (2) establish strategies to assure the provision of medicines to enable combat readiness and force health protection.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4710 Introduced in House (IH)]

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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.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Pharmaceutical Independence Long-
Term Readiness Reform Act''.

SEC. 2. UNITED STATES MEDICINE SUPPLY CHAIN.

    (a) National Defense Strategy.--The Secretary of Defense shall 
include, in each national defense strategy under section 113(g) of 
title 10, United States Code, steps to be taken to assure the provision 
of medicines to enable combat readiness and force health protection.
    (b) Report to Congress.--Not later than one year after the date of 
the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense, in consultation 
with the heads of other appropriate Federal departments and agencies, 
shall submit to Congress a report on vulnerabilities to the United 
States medicine supply chain. Such report shall include--
            (1) an identification of any finished drugs and their 
        essential components including raw materials, chemical 
        components and active ingredients necessary for the manufacture 
        of medicines whose supply is at risk of disruption during a 
        time of war or national emergency;
            (2) an identification of shortages of finished drugs 
        essential for combat readiness and force protection;
            (3) an identification of the defense and geopolitical 
        contingencies that are sufficiently likely to arise that may 
        disrupt, strain, compromise, or eliminate supply chains of 
        medicines and their essential components and recommendations 
        for reasonable preparation for the occurrence of such 
        contingencies;
            (4) an assessment of the resilience and capacity of the 
        current supply chain and industrial base to support national 
        defense upon the occurrence of the contingencies identified in 
        paragraph (3), including with respect to--
                    (A) the manufacturing capacity of the United 
                States;
                    (B) gaps in domestic manufacturing capabilities 
                including non-existent, extinct, threatened, and 
                single-point-of-failure capabilities; and
                    (C) supply chains with single points of failure and 
                limited resiliency;
            (5) legislative, regulatory, and policy changes necessary 
        to avoid, or prepare for, contingencies identified in the 
        report; and
            (6) recommendations to diversify supply away from complete 
        dependency on sources of supply in competitor countries and 
        politically unstable countries that may cut off United States 
        supply, and address critical bottlenecks and mitigate single 
        points of failure and limited resilience.
    (c) Preference for Medicines.--
            (1) In general.--Except as provided in paragraph (2) and 
        under section 1107a(d) of title 10, United States Code, the 
        Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs--
                    (A) may only acquire and purchase American-made and 
                Federal Drug Administration approved raw materials, 
                medicines, and vaccines for the Department of Defense; 
                and
                    (B) shall use the authorities under the Defense 
                Production Act to acquire and purchase such raw 
                materials, medicines, and vaccines, recognizing the 
                national security vulnerabilities of a dependency on a 
                foreign medical supply chain.
            (2) Exception.--Paragraph (1) does not apply in any case 
        where the Secretary of Defense determines that a shortage of 
        any raw material, medicine, or vaccine is such that it becomes 
        unavoidable to acquire such raw material, medicine, or vaccine 
        from a trusted foreign supplier.
            (3) American-made.--For purposes of this subsection, the 
        term ``American-made'' supplied from, created, or supplied by 
        the United States, including any territory or possession of the 
        United States.
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