The Coalition for a Prosperous America (CPA) charged that a new Senate bill to eliminate all tariffs on personal protective equipment (PPE) would sabotage U.S. manufacturing of these vital health care supplies and should be opposed by all who want to rebuild the U.S. health care manufacturing industry to safeguard the health of the American public.
CPA said that the Stop PPE Taxes Act, a bill advanced by Senator Toomey (R-PA) and Senator Hassan (D-NH) and sponsored by Senator Feinstein (D-CA), would undermine the U.S. PPE industry, which is seeing a revival in U.S. production of masks and other essential supplies. The bill would waive tariffs on imported personal protection equipment through 2022.
The issue acquired added attention this week when Senator Grassley (R-IA) proposed ways the “Stop PPE Taxes” could be passed in the lame-duck session after the election. Grassley even proposed attaching the bill to the end of year omnibus appropriation bill. CPA strongly opposes any such move.
“While Americans are ramping up production of PPE and working to rebuild our vulnerable supply chains, some in the United States Senate feel their time is best spent supporting the import lobby which heavily relies on cheap and possibly unsafe product coming from China. Why are United States Senators doing the bidding of Chinese companies?” said Dan DiMicco, Chairman of the Coalition for a Prosperous America. “This proposal just guts the hard work and spirit of the American workers and business leaders many of whom are working seven days a week to ramp up U.S. production of PPE,” DiMicco added.
In September, the Coalition for a Prosperous America released an industry analysis on USA Made PPE. The analysis documented that the U.S. used to make around 95 percent of the masks used in dental and medical offices, delivering reliable safety and jobs for Americans. More here.
CPA supports a pro-American, bipartisan, jobs and PPE manufacturing bill proposed in the House in July, HR 7841. According to CPA’s industry analysis in September:
“The American PPE Supply Chain Integrity Act (HR 7841) was introduced on July 29 by House Representatives Patrick McHenry (R-NC) and Bill Pascrell (D-NJ) and would establish a standard that PPE procured by the Departments of Defense (DoD), Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, and Veterans Affairs must be “100 percent of a product that is grown, reprocessed, reused, or produced in the United States.” This is the same standard contained in the Berry Amendment which the DoD already follows when procuring American-made uniforms and other textile products for the military. The bill resets the contract level for the Berry Amendment from $250,000 to $150,000.”
“Congress should focus on bills like HR 7841 which provide economic and national security for all Americans,” DiMicco said.
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