By Mike Kruzman / news@whmi.com


8th District Congresswoman Elissa Stokin has unveiled her plan to help the medical supply chain which encourages the federal government to use American-made goods.

During an online press conference held Thursday afternoon, the Holly Democrat shared her Made in America Medical Supply Chain Initiative. Slotkin said that it’s unacceptable that we’re losing lives to a virus because we don’t have enough of the materials that we could be making, at least in part, here in America. This initiative, she explains, will help correct that.

The initiative is a package of 3 bills with the overarching goal to harness America’s manufacturing might and the ability of the Department of Defense to manage supplies, to make sure we’re never in a situation again where health care workers don’t have the protective equipment they need.

Slotkin went into further detail on each of the 3 bills. The first bill reduces dependence on foreign sources of critical supplies by strengthening Buy America provisions and protections on the National Strategic Stockpile. She said this borrows from the Department of Defense’s strategy on military hardware, in that the D-O-D doesn’t want to be dependent on foreign countries like China or Germany. She would take those provisions and move them to the supply chain. The 2nd bill is the National Strategic Stockpile Reform Act, which would hand the stockpile to the Dept. of Defense, with Slotkin believing they have the knowledge and experience to maintain it. The third bill sets up a library of specs for critical medical supply items. This way, companies and manufacturers that wish to help the country can easily find the plans and join the effort. Slotkin said she doesn’t propose these changes lightly, and that they come from a place of experience with the Defense Department. She says we can do better, and that we owe it to health care professionals and those on the frontline to do it now, so that the next time we have a crisis or emergency, we are better prepared.