S 3570 · 116th Congress 2019–2021, ended

A bill to provide for the expedited procurement of equipment needed to combat COVID-19 under the Defense Production Act of 1950.

Fact sheet

Latest action · Mar 23, 2020 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.

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.

  1. IntroducedMar 23, 2020
  2. Passed SenateNot reached
  3. Passed HouseNot reached
  4. To the PresidentNot reached
  5. Became lawNot reached

Summary

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 18

Members who signed on, in the order they did. All signed on Mar 23, 2020.

SeatCosponsorSigned on
D-NYCharles E. SchumerOriginalMar 23, 2020
D-MDChris Van HollenOriginalMar 23, 2020
D-NJCory A. BookerOriginalMar 23, 2020
D-MAElizabeth WarrenOriginalMar 23, 2020
D-NHJeanne ShaheenOriginalMar 23, 2020
D-ORJeff MerkleyOriginalMar 23, 2020
I-WVJoe Manchin IIIOriginalMar 23, 2020
D-MTJon TesterOriginalMar 23, 2020
D-CAKamala D. HarrisOriginalMar 23, 2020
D-NYKirsten E. GillibrandOriginalMar 23, 2020
D-NHMargaret Wood HassanOriginalMar 23, 2020
D-HIMazie K. HironoOriginalMar 23, 2020
D-COMichael F. BennetOriginalMar 23, 2020
D-CTRichard BlumenthalOriginalMar 23, 2020
D-PARobert P. Casey Jr.OriginalMar 23, 2020

Actions 2

Everything that happened, newest first.

  1. Mar 23, 2020Introduced in Senate
  2. Mar 23, 2020Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.

Subjects

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

Text 1

Each version as it was printed, newest first.

  1. Mar 23, 2020Introduced in Senate

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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.