A broad coalition of industry organizations and labor unions have supported Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s proposal to include robust domestic procurement policies for PPE in the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (USICA) that is currently being reviewed by the Senate.

The coalition specially requested the senators to extend rules for PPE procurement substantially similar to the Berry Amendment to the federal government’s largest buyers of these products, including the Departments of Homeland Security, Health and Human Services, Veterans Affairs, and Defense.

It thanked them for including such a provision in Section 4153 of the USICA, which is substantially similar to the bipartisan Make PPE in America Act (S.1306) introduced earlier this year by Senators [Gary] Peters and [Rob] Portman. It emphasized that the emergent US PPE industry needs the purchasing certainty provided by long-term government support. It urged the government to extend domestic purchasing requirements for PPE in US Innovation and Competition Act to four critical departments with the largest federal purchasing power for these products—DHS, HHS, VA, and DoD.