DeLauro, Banks Introduce Bipartisan Legislation to Secure U.S. Supply Chains

Today, U.S. Representatives Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03) and Jim Banks (R-IN-03) introduced the bipartisan SHIELD Act. This legislation would establish an Office of Economic and Security Preparedness and Resilience to set priorities to ensure resilient United States supply chains and robust domestic production in sectors vital to national security. It would help eliminate supply chain dependency on China and is inspired by a recommendation from the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission’s 2022 Annual Report to Congress.

“Our overdependence on foreign manufacturing has hampered our ability to quickly respond to supply chain challenges and meet the needs of America and its citizens,” said Congresswoman DeLauro. “There is no reason we should depend on foreign adversaries for essential goods – from technology, to critical minerals, to ingredients for our lifesaving drugs. The SHIELD Act is needed legislation that will safeguard our supply chains from China and the CCP, and provide the United States with the tools needed to help chart a path to outcompete China.”

“As the COVID-19 pandemic made horribly clear, America’s reliance on China for making basic things like medicine and critical minerals is a huge liability,” said Congressman Banks. “Our bill would shine a light on where other such vulnerabilities exist and help revitalize our industrial base to fix them.”

“This legislation will help the U.S. government identify and address two dangerous vulnerabilities: excessive dependence on imports of parts and materials critical to the nation’s security and inadequate domestic capacity to produce the large quantities of arms and equipment that might be needed to fight and win a future war.” – Aaron Friedberg, Co-Director, Center for International Security Studies at Princeton University.

“AAM applauds the bipartisan work of Representatives DeLauro and Banks for their legislation to address supply chain vulnerabilities, particularly where China’s Communist Party poses a threat,” said Scott Paul, President of the Alliance for American Manufacturing. “Recent supply chain disruptions have made clear that the United States must act to shore up critical manufacturing supply chains and reduce our reliance on China to safeguard our security. We should no longer question whether China will weaponize its supply chains and our reliance upon them to its advantage. The CCP has already demonstrated an ability and willingness to do just that. The creation of this office to set supply chain priorities and boost domestic production in key sectors is an important step to further strengthen American Manufacturing.”

For the text of the legislation, click here.