HR 6398 · 116th Congress 2019–2021, ended

Frontline Health Care Workers Assistance Act

Introduced Mar 26, 2020 Originated House Sponsor Jason Crow D-CO

Latest action · Mar 27, 2020 Referred to the Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management.

Progress

Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.

IntroducedMar 26, 2020
Passed HouseNot reached
Passed SenateNot reached
To the PresidentNot reached
Became lawNot reached

Summary

Frontline Health Care Workers Assistance Act

This bill directs certain actions to procure equipment necessary to prevent, identify, and mitigate cases of COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019).

The National Response Coordination Center of the Federal Emergency Management Agency must, within seven days, submit a report to Congress and the President that (1) assesses the need for equipment, including personal protective equipment and ventilators, across the United States; and (2) identifies the industry sectors and manufacturers capable of fulfilling purchase orders for such equipment, as well as government-owned and privately owned stockpiles of such equipment that could be refurbished.

Within 24 hours, the President must issue a purchase order with the highest priority rating under the Defense Priorities and Allocations System (DPAS) for a specified number of N-95 respirators and face masks. (DPAS is used to prioritize national defense-related contracts, subcontracts, and purchase orders.) Within seven days of receiving the center's report, the President must also issue priority purchase orders for the equipment identified in the report under authorities provided by the Defense Production Act of 1950. (That act confers upon the President a broad set of authorities to influence domestic industry in order to provide essential materials and goods for the national defense.) The bill waives certain requirements under the act related to congressional notification and authorization and makes specified funds available for these efforts.

Cosponsors 58

Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from Mar 26, 2020 to Apr 21, 2020; 24 are original cosponsors, there from the day it was introduced.

Seat	Cosponsor		Signed on
D-NH	Ann M. Kuster	Original	Mar 26, 2020
D-MA	Ayanna Pressley	Original	Mar 26, 2020
D-PA	Brendan F. Boyle	Original	Mar 26, 2020
D-WA	Derek Kilmer	Original	Mar 26, 2020
D-CA	Grace F. Napolitano	Original	Mar 26, 2020
D-CA	Harley Rouda	Original	Mar 26, 2020
D-CT	Jahana Hayes	Original	Mar 26, 2020
D-MA	James P. McGovern	Original	Mar 26, 2020
D-MD	Jamie Raskin	Original	Mar 26, 2020
D-NY	Jerrold Nadler	Original	Mar 26, 2020
D-TX	Joaquin Castro	Original	Mar 26, 2020
D-CO	Joe Neguse	Original	Mar 26, 2020
D-CT	John B. Larson	Original	Mar 26, 2020
D-CA	Katie Porter	Original	Mar 26, 2020
D-TX	Lizzie Fletcher	Original	Mar 26, 2020
D-FL	Lois Frankel	Original	Mar 26, 2020
D-CA	Lucille Roybal-Allard	Original	Mar 26, 2020
D-WI	Mark Pocan	Original	Mar 26, 2020
D-CA	Nanette Diaz Barragán	Original	Mar 26, 2020
D-CA	Ro Khanna	Original	Mar 26, 2020
D-NY	Sean Patrick Maloney	Original	Mar 26, 2020
D-NY	Thomas R. Suozzi	Original	Mar 26, 2020
D-CA	Tj Cox	Original	Mar 26, 2020
D-NJ	Tom Malinowski	Original	Mar 26, 2020
D-NY	Adriano Espaillat		Mar 31, 2020
D-MD	Anthony G. Brown		Mar 31, 2020
D-FL	Darren Soto		Mar 31, 2020
D-NM	Debra A. Haaland		Mar 31, 2020
D-NJ	Donald M. Payne, Jr.		Mar 31, 2020
D-CO	Ed Perlmutter		Mar 31, 2020
D-FL	Frederica S. Wilson		Mar 31, 2020
D-WI	Gwen Moore		Mar 31, 2020
D-MN	Ilhan Omar		Mar 31, 2020
D-IL	Jesús G. "Chuy" García		Mar 31, 2020
D-CA	Jimmy Panetta		Mar 31, 2020
D-CA	Juan Vargas		Mar 31, 2020
D-NY	Nydia M. Velázquez		Mar 31, 2020
D-OR	Peter A. DeFazio		Mar 31, 2020
D-MA	Seth Moulton		Mar 31, 2020
D-MA	Stephen F. Lynch		Mar 31, 2020
D-TN	Steve Cohen		Mar 31, 2020
D-AL	Terri A. Sewell		Mar 31, 2020
D-IL	Bobby L. Rush		Apr 3, 2020
D-ME	Chellie Pingree		Apr 3, 2020
D-IA	Cynthia Axne		Apr 3, 2020
D-MD	David J. Trone		Apr 3, 2020
D-FL	Val Butler Demings		Apr 3, 2020
D-IN	André Carson		Apr 17, 2020
D-NH	Chris Pappas		Apr 17, 2020
D-PA	Conor Lamb		Apr 17, 2020
D-TX	Filemon Vela		Apr 17, 2020
D-CA	Jerry McNerney		Apr 17, 2020
D-OH	Joyce Beatty		Apr 17, 2020
D-PA	Madeleine Dean		Apr 17, 2020
D-PA	Mary Gay Scanlon		Apr 17, 2020
D-TX	Sheila Jackson Lee		Apr 17, 2020
D-FL	Theodore E. Deutch		Apr 17, 2020
D-MS	Bennie G. Thompson		Apr 21, 2020

Committees 2

Where it was sent and what each committee and subcommittee did with it, in order.

Chamber	Committee	What it did
House	Financial Services Committee	Referred Mar 26, 2020
House	Transportation and Infrastructure Committee	Referred Mar 26, 2020
	Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management Subcommittee	Referred Mar 27, 2020

Actions 3

Everything that happened, newest first.

Mar 27, 2020Referred to the Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management.
Mar 26, 2020Introduced in House
Mar 26, 2020Referred to the Committee on Financial Services, and in addition to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.

Research

What has been written about this bill: committee reports, cost estimates, the sponsor’s authority statement, printed hearings and the Congressional Research Service’s work.

Constitutional authority

Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant to the following: Article I, Section VIII, Clause III: To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;

The sponsor’s statement, as printed in the Congressional Record, vol. 166, no. 60, March 26, 2020, page H1729.

CRS reports 1

Congressional Research Service work that CRS links to this bill or the law it became, newest first.

Cite it 1

Products on other subjects that cite it, usually among other measures.

Product	Title	Kind	Published
R46319	Novel Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19): Q&A on Global Implications and Responses Archived	Report	May 14, 2020

Titles 2

Every title it has carried, official and short, at each stage.

Official Title as Introduced: To provide for the expedited procurement of equipment needed to combat COVID-19 under the Defense Production Act of 1950.
Short Title(s) as Introduced: Frontline Health Care Workers Assistance Act

Subjects

Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Health.

Text 1

Each version as it was printed, newest first.

Mar 26, 2020Introduced in House

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Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov; cost estimates are the Congressional Budget Office's, and the hearings are the printed hearings GovInfo publishes, which can appear months after the hearing.