Essential Medical Innovation and Manufacturing Must Come Home to America

Floor Speech

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Mr. JOYCE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, in 2020, America is facing significant threats to our health, to our values, and to our national security. The Chinese Communist Party has attempted to exert control over every facet of America's economy and industry, and even our health and safety.

The coronavirus has exposed that much of America's medical supply chain, as it currently stands, runs directly through China. This should concern every American. Why would we trust a regime that lies about a pandemic to control our access to healthcare?

As a physician, I have long been concerned about the Chinese Communist Government's near monopoly on the manufacturing of generic medicines. And that threat doesn't stop there. We cannot allow the Chinese Communist Party to control our access to prescription drugs and the vital materials that are used in healthcare equipment, not to mention PPE.

For the sake of American patients and our national security, we must correct course and return the essential medical innovation and manufacturing home to America and away from this hostile regime.

For months, the China Task Force has been working to identify realistic and achievable solutions to secure our medical supply chain and ensure that Americans are never beholden to the Chinese Communist Party for our medicines and for our healthcare equipment. We are taking a comprehensive approach to end America's reliance on China and bring jobs home to America.

Our supply chain challenges extend beyond the healthcare regime. From technology to manufacturing, too many materials that we rely on every day are sourced from China.

Earlier this year, I introduced legislation that seeks to end America's dependence on China for rare earth elements and other critical minerals--these are essential, and they are used in the manufacturing of medical supplies, defense technology, and high-tech products--by establishing a supply chain for these materials here in the United States. It is important for our survival into the upcoming technology advancements that our country is so dependent on. It also requires the Department of Defense to source these materials from America.

Pennsylvania, my home, is home to a dedicated and highly skilled workforce, and I am working on a plan to incentivize companies to bring their research, the development, and the production of materials back home.

As President Trump said earlier this month: ``We want to build factories in Baltimore, not Beijing. We want to make our products in Chicago, not Shanghai.'' And, I might add, we want to make medicines in Chambersburg, not China.

Mr. Speaker, this is the fight of our lives, and we have a real opportunity to make a difference. There is nothing partisan about securing America's place as a leader in the 21st century. There is nothing partisan about bringing jobs home to America. There is nothing partisan about combating a hostile regime's overreach into American lives.

This is not about Republicans or Democrats; this is about Americans. I urge my colleagues from across the political spectrum to get behind our commonsense solutions to counter the Chinese Communist Party and protect our Nation.

It is simple. We must secure our supply chains. We must defeat China in the race to the next-generation technology. We must prepare Americans to succeed in the years to come.

From strengthening our supply chains and bringing jobs home to America and to our allies, countering Chinese interference in our educational institutions, we must take action. We must continue fighting to defend the American people and equip America to lead the way in the 21st century.

As I have said before on this floor, this is the fight of our lifetime, and it is one that we certainly can win.

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