Resilient Manufacturing Task Force Act of 2021

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. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Resilient Manufac- 4 turing Task Force Act of 2021’’. 5 SEC. 2. RESILIENT MANUFACTURING TASK FORCE. 6 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 7 (1) the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary 8 of Commerce; 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:52 Jan 29, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H171.IH H171 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 171 IH (2) the term ‘‘supply chain bottleneck’’ means 1 a limitation in a production value chain that re- 2 stricts the overall speed or reliability of the manu- 3 facturing process; 4 (3) the term ‘‘Task Force’’ means the Resilient 5 Manufacturing Task Force established under sub- 6 section (c)(1); and 7 (4) the term ‘‘veteran’’ has the meaning given 8 the term in section 101 of title 38, United States 9 Code. 10 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con- 11 gress that— 12 (1) the COVID–19 pandemic has— 13 (A) exposed significant vulnerabilities in 14 the manufacturing sector of the economy of the 15 United States; and 16 (B) led to equipment shortages, supply 17 chain bottlenecks, and workforce misalignments; 18 (2) the vulnerabilities described in paragraph 19 (1) go largely unnoticed until they are revealed by 20 disease outbreaks, cyber attacks, natural disasters, 21 and other emergencies; 22 (3) the crises described in paragraph (2) 23 produce valuable information, the collection and 24 analysis of which can inform policies to fortify the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:52 Jan 29, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H171.IH H171 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 171 IH economy of the United States against future threats; 1 and 2 (4) the responsibility for promoting national 3 economic resilience lies with the Federal Govern- 4 ment, which must not miss the opportunity pre- 5 sented by the COVID–19 pandemic to learn from 6 that crisis and prepare the United States to better 7 withstand future emergencies. 8 (c) RESILIENT MANUFACTURING TASK FORCE.— 9 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.— 10 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days 11 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec- 12 retary, in coordination with the Secretary of 13 Defense, the Secretary of Energy, and the 14 heads of any other Federal agencies that the 15 Secretary determines appropriate, shall estab- 16 lish the Resilient Manufacturing Task Force. 17 (B) RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE SEC- 18 RETARY.—In carrying out subparagraph (A), 19 the Secretary, in coordination with the officials 20 described in that subparagraph, shall— 21 (i) determine— 22 (I) the number of members who 23 shall comprise the Task Force; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:52 Jan 29, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H171.IH H171 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 171 IH (II) the qualifications of the 1 members described in subclause (I); 2 (ii) appoint the members of the Task 3 Force; and 4 (iii) establish procedures regarding 5 the operation of the Task Force, including 6 by determining the frequency with which 7 the Task Force shall meet. 8 (2) DUTIES.—The duties of the Task Force 9 shall be the following: 10 (A) To identify critical vulnerabilities in 11 the supply chains of products and resources 12 that are essential to the economic security of 13 the United States, focusing in particular on 14 vulnerabilities that have been exacerbated by 15 the COVID–19 pandemic. 16 (B) To mitigate the vulnerabilities de- 17 scribed in subparagraph (A) by developing 18 plans for the following: 19 (i) The formation of a National Man- 20 ufacturing Guard, which shall be a reserve 21 of industry volunteers who are trained and 22 empowered to, in times of crisis, help man- 23 age manufacturing supply chains, logistics 24 infrastructure, and workforce resources. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:52 Jan 29, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H171.IH H171 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 171 IH (ii) The establishment of a Supply 1 Chain Data Exchange, which shall support 2 the National Manufacturing Guard de- 3 scribed in clause (i) by providing real-time, 4 centralized information on a national scale 5 regarding, with respect to manufacturing 6 supply chains, inventory, capacity, re- 7 sources, and supply chain bottlenecks. 8 (iii) The formation of a Technology 9 Corps to serve as a workforce pipeline that 10 prioritizes manufacturing skills that the 11 Task Force and the National Manufac- 12 turing Guard described in clause (i) deter- 13 mine to be essential to the economic secu- 14 rity of the United States. 15 (C) In carrying out subparagraph (B)(iii), 16 to pay particular attention to increasing edu- 17 cational and training opportunities for under- 18 represented minorities, women, and veterans. 19 (3) ADVICE.—In carrying out the duties of the 20 Task Force, the Task Force shall seek to obtain ex- 21 pertise from the public and private sectors, including 22 from— 23 (A) manufacturing extension centers cre- 24 ated and supported under the Hollings Manu- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:52 Jan 29, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H171.IH H171 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 171 IH facturing Extension Partnership established 1 under section 25 of the National Institute of 2 Standards and Technology Act (15 U.S.C. 3 278k); 4 (B) industry consortia and trade groups; 5 (C) private business entities, including 6 small manufacturers; 7 (D) Federal, State, and local government 8 specialists, including economic policymakers and 9 military logistics experts; 10 (E) academic and research institutions; 11 (F) labor organizations; and 12 (G) Manufacturing USA institutes de- 13 scribed in section 34(d) of the National Insti- 14 tute of Standards and Technology Act (15 15 U.S.C. 278s(d)). 16 (4) TERMINATION.—The Task Force shall ter- 17 minate on the date that is 1 year after the date on 18 which the Secretary establishes the Task Force 19 under paragraph (1). 20 (5) APPLICABILITY.—The Federal Advisory 21 Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.) shall not apply with 22 respect to the Task Force or the activities of the 23 Task Force. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:52 Jan 29, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H171.IH H171 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 171 IH (d) REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.—The Secretary 1 shall— 2 (1) not later than 90 days after the date of en- 3 actment of this Act, submit to Congress a report re- 4 garding the formation of the Task Force, which 5 shall contain— 6 (A) an identification of the members of the 7 Task Force, the respective areas of expertise of 8 those members, and the expected roles of those 9 members; and 10 (B) a preliminary plan for carrying out the 11 duties of the Task Force, including forecasts 12 for costs, a preliminary timeline with respect to 13 the activities of the Task Force, and the ex- 14 pected resource needs of the Task Force; and 15 (2) not later than 90 days after the date on 16 which the Task Force terminates, submit to Con- 17 gress a report containing— 18 (A) a description of the activities of the 19 Task Force during the 1-year period in which 20 the Task Force was in effect; 21 (B) a comprehensive description of how the 22 Task Force carried out the duties of the Task 23 Force described in subsection (c)(2), which 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:52 Jan 29, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H171.IH H171 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 171 IH shall include any related policy recommenda- 1 tions; 2 (C) a recommendation regarding whether 3 Congress should establish a Resilient Manufac- 4 turing Advisory Council to continue the role of 5 the Task Force on an extended or permanent 6 basis; and 7 (D) if applicable, a proposal outlining, with 8 respect to the Council described in subpara- 9 graph (C)— 10 (i) the scope and activities of the 11 Council; and 12 (ii) the funding and resource require- 13 ments of the Council. 14 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 15 are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary 16 $5,000,000 for the period of fiscal years 2021 through 17 2022 to carry out this section, which shall remain avail- 18 able until expended. 19 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:52 Jan 29, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H171.IH H171 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS