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116TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 6607
To direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish, in
coordination with the Director of the strategic national stockpile, the
National Emergency Biodefense Network, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
APRIL 23, 2020
Mr. LYNCH (for himself and Mr. SOTO) introduced the following bill; which
was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce
A BILL
To direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to
establish, in coordination with the Director of the stra-
tegic national stockpile, the National Emergency Bio-
defense Network, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
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tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
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This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Strategic National
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Stockpile Enhancement and Transparency Act’’.
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SEC. 2. NATIONAL EMERGENCY BIODEFENSE NETWORK.
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(a) IN GENERAL.—Part B of title III of the Public
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Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 243 et seq.) is amended
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•HR 6607 IH
by inserting after section 319F–4 (42 U.S.C. 247d–6e)
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the following:
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‘‘SEC. 319F–5. NATIONAL EMERGENCY BIODEFENSE NET-
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WORK.
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‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the
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date of the enactment of this section, the Secretary shall
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establish, in coordination with the strategic national stock-
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pile under section 319F–2 and the National Biodefense
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Science Board established under section 319M, a network
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of State entities to be known as the ‘National Emergency
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Biodefense Network’ (referred to in this section as the
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‘Network’) to, with respect to drugs, vaccines and other
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biological products, medical devices, and other supplies
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necessary for the emergency health security of the United
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States—
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‘‘(1) track the availability of such supplies in
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each State and in the strategic national stockpile;
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and
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‘‘(2) maintain an adequate supply of such sup-
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plies in each State and in the strategic national
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stockpile.
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‘‘(b) NETWORK REQUIREMENT.—The Network shall
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be developed and implemented using a private blockchain.
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‘‘(c) GRANTS
TO
STATES.—The Secretary shall
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award grants to States to enable States to establish an
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entity which shall—
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‘‘(1) serve as a statewide repository of the sup-
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plies referred to in subsection (a); and
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‘‘(2) provide for the tracking of the inventory
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and movement of such supplies using a private
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blockchain.
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‘‘(d) BLOCKCHAIN.—In this section, the term
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‘blockchain’ means software that uses a distributed digital
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ledger of cryptographically signed transactions that are
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grouped into blocks, each of which—
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‘‘(1) is cryptographically linked to the previous
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block after validation and undergoing a consensus
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decision; and
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‘‘(2) when added as a new block, makes any
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older blocks more difficult to modify and is rep-
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licated across all copies of the ledger within the rel-
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evant network, with any conflicts in such blocks re-
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solved automatically using established rules.
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‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There
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are authorized to carry out this section $25,000,000 for
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each of fiscal years 2021 and 2022.’’.
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