To direct the President to appoint a Medical Supplies Response Coordinator to coordinate the efforts of the Federal Government regarding the supply and distribution of certain supplies and equipment relating to COVID-19.

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 316 To direct the President to appoint a Medical Supplies Response Coordinator to coordinate the efforts of the Federal Government regarding the supply and distribution of certain supplies and equipment relating to COVID– 19. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 13, 2021 Mr. SCHNEIDER (for himself and Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Com- merce, and in addition to the Committee on Financial Services, for a pe- riod to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for con- sideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the com- mittee concerned A BILL To direct the President to appoint a Medical Supplies Re- sponse Coordinator to coordinate the efforts of the Fed- eral Government regarding the supply and distribution of certain supplies and equipment relating to COVID– 19. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. MEDICAL SUPPLIES RESPONSE COORDINATOR. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The President shall appoint a 4 Medical Supplies Response Coordinator to coordinate the 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:00 Feb 06, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H316.IH H316 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 316 IH efforts of the Federal Government regarding the supply 1 and distribution of critical medical supplies and equipment 2 related to detecting, diagnosing, preventing, and treating 3 COVID–19, including personal protective equipment, med- 4 ical devices, drugs, and vaccines. 5 (b) QUALIFICATIONS.—To qualify to be appointed as 6 the Medical Supplies Response Coordinator, an individual 7 shall be a senior government official with— 8 (1) health care training, including training re- 9 lated to infectious diseases or hazardous exposures; 10 and 11 (2) a familiarity with medical supply chain lo- 12 gistics. 13 (c) ACTIVITIES.—The Medical Supplies Response Co- 14 ordinator shall— 15 (1) consult with State, local, territorial, and 16 Tribal officials to ensure that health care facilities 17 and health care workers have sufficient personal pro- 18 tective equipment and other medical supplies; 19 (2) evaluate ongoing needs of States, localities, 20 territories, Tribes, health care facilities, and health 21 care workers to determine the need for critical med- 22 ical supplies and equipment; 23 (3) serve as a point of contact for industry for 24 procurement and distribution of critical medical sup- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:00 Feb 06, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H316.IH H316 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 316 IH plies and equipment, including personal protective 1 equipment, medical devices, testing supplies, drugs, 2 and vaccines; 3 (4) procure and distribute critical medical sup- 4 plies and equipment, including personal protective 5 equipment, medical devices, testing supplies, drugs, 6 and vaccines; 7 (5)(A) establish and maintain an up-to-date na- 8 tional database of hospital capacity, including beds, 9 ventilators, and supplies, including personal protec- 10 tive equipment, medical devices, drugs, and vaccines; 11 and 12 (B) provide weekly reports to the Congress on 13 gaps in such capacity and progress made toward 14 closing the gaps; 15 (6) require, as necessary, industry reporting on 16 production and distribution of personal protective 17 equipment, medical devices, testing supplies, drugs, 18 and vaccines and assess financial penalties as may 19 be specified by the Medical Supplies Response Coor- 20 dinator for failure to comply with such requirements 21 for reporting on production and distribution; 22 (7) consult with the Secretary and the Adminis- 23 trator of the Federal Emergency Management Agen- 24 cy, as applicable, to ensure sufficient production lev- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:00 Feb 06, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H316.IH H316 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 316 IH els under the Defense Production Act (50 U.S.C. 1 4501 et seq.); and 2 (8) monitor the prices of critical medical sup- 3 plies and equipment, including personal protective 4 equipment and medical devices, drugs, and vaccines 5 related to detecting, diagnosing, preventing, and 6 treating COVID–19 and report any suspected price 7 gouging of such materials to the Federal Trade 8 Commission and appropriate law enforcement offi- 9 cials. 10 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:00 Feb 06, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H316.IH H316 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS