In a $1.3 trillion government funding bill advanced by the House last week, pandemic preparedness remained front and center, with several provisions incorporated to demand adequate stocking of the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) and regular reports on that stockpile.
The provisions were originally put forward by U.S. Rep Tom Malinowski (D-NJ) in the Providing Protective Equipment Act.
“The widespread shortages of PPE equipment and COVID-testing supplies that we’ve seen since the early days of this crisis never should have happened,” Malinowski said. “My proposal, which the House adopted today, ensures that Congress and the public will be told at the start of each year exactly what is necessary to keep a ready stockpile and that we’re all held accountable to fund it. The next time our country faces a public health emergency, we will be prepared.”
Preparation is the key thing here — something that has been under heavy critique since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The United States has frequently found itself short-supplied throughout the outbreak and its supply chains over reliant on international manufacturers.
To combat this, Malinowski’s provisions would require the SNS to be properly stocked for pandemics, and to guarantee it, demand the Secretary of Health and Human Services supply weekly reports to Congress on the inventory of ventilators and personal protective equipment within the SNS. A separate annual judgment budget would be required for submission to catalog those expenditures needed to maintain a minimum level of relevant supplies.
The package of bills also would allocate $47 billion to the National Institutes of Health — a $5.5 billion increase over this year — including mandates for improved capacity at research institutions and research for a Universal Flu Vaccine. Another $9 billion would be provided in emergency supplemental funding for public health and emergency response activities and $4.5 billion for the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority.
Other provisions would require the Department of Justice to create an interagency task force to coordinate efforts for fighting domestic terrorism and elevate the Counsel for Domestic Terrorism to a Deputy Assistant Attorney General position, provide $6 million for domestic radicalization research and ban the Department of Defense from requiring backdoors in private companies’ creations that could allow them access to citizens’ private data.