The AFL-CIO, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), and the United States Footwear Manufacturers Association are among 20 union and stakeholder organizations supporting the Make PPE in America Act.
The unions and stakeholder organizations recently forwarded correspondence to Majority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Minority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) advocating for the inclusion of the Make PPE in America Act into the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act.
Sens. Rob Portman (R-OH) and Gary Peters (D-MI), ranking member and chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, serve as sponsors of the measure. It seeks to bolster domestic onshore PPE production by requiring federal agencies to issue long-term contracts for American-made PPE.
“Our lack of domestic PPE manufacturing is the result of a generation’s worth of offshoring that has not only undermined our public health response but centralized critical manufacturing in the hands of a strategic adversary,” the unions and stakeholder organizations wrote.
“We urge you to ensure that the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act extends domestic purchasing requirements for PPE to the four critical departments with the largest federal purchasing power for these products.”
The unions and organization shareholders maintain a wholly U.S. PPE supply chain is needed to help protect the nation from the next public health crisis.