Source: Lisa Blunt Rochester Office
WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Reps. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.) and Larry Bucshon M.D. (R-Ind.) participated in a moderated discussion titled “A Competitive America: Supply Chains, Jobs, and Consumers” during the U.S. Department of Commerce and Council on Foreign Relations’ inaugural Supply Chain Summit. Blunt Rochester and Bucshon, both members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, highlighted their bipartisan and bicameral Promoting Resilient Supply Chains Act, legislation to create a strategic, whole-of-government approach to proactively prevent supply chain shocks and disruptions. The discussion was moderated by Semafor’s Founding Editor at Large Steve Clemons.
“The pandemic shined a bright light on just how vulnerable and complex our supply chains are. It’s why I’ve been working across the aisle for years to find comprehensive solutions to these challenges and that’s why I’m proud to have the opportunity to join today’s discussion hosted by the U.S. Department of Commerce and Council on Foreign Relations,” said Rep. Blunt Rochester, member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. “Thanks to the Biden-Harris Administration, we’ve made progress on making more in America and bringing manufacturing jobs back home – but we need to go further. The Promoting Resilient Supply Chains Act is the next step for us to take to prevent the supply chain shocks and shortages like we saw during the pandemic – and it has a real chance at becoming law because of its proactive, comprehensive, and bipartisan approach. I look forward to continuing to work with Dr. Bucshon to get this bipartisan and bicameral bill over the finish line so we can strengthen our supply chains, create more good-paying jobs, and lower costs for consumers all while boosting our nation’s competitiveness and protecting our national security.”
“Over the past several years, we’ve seen firsthand how important supply chain issues are to our national and economic security and the impacts that supply chain issues can have on the lives of Americans. Today’s discussion with Administration, Congressional, and other stakeholders about our ongoing efforts to strengthen our nation’s supply chains and enhance our ability to continue producing the goods that we all use every day is an important step in making sure our nation is proactively addressing these issues instead of waiting for a crisis to occur,” said Dr. Bucshon. “I am proud to be joining my colleague, Rep. Blunt Rochester, today to discuss this important topic and how our legislation, the Promoting Resilient Supply Chains Act, will bolster these efforts.”
The Promoting Resilient Supply Chains Act was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Blunt Rochester and Bucshon in December 2023 and is endorsed by over 160 organizations – from labor unions to chambers of commerce. The bill would create a strategic, whole-of-government approach to mapping, monitoring, and proactively strengthening American supply chains, bringing manufacturing jobs back home, and lowering costs for consumers. Specifically, the legislation would:
• Make the existing Assistant Secretary of Commerce responsible for leading a whole-of-government supply chain resilience effort;
• Create a Supply Chain Resiliency and Crisis Response Program that will map, monitor, and model critical supply chains and proactively address supply chain shocks before they occur;
• Create a coordination group of private sector partners, organized labor, NGOs, key allies and international actors, and relevant Federal agencies;
• Designate a list of emerging technologies for the program to focus on, including a public and transparent process for designated new technology focus areas for the resiliency program;
• Develop a national strategy that elevates the issue and creates a national action plan to address supply chain resiliency;
• Develop best practices to help private and public sector entities address and improve their supply chains; and
• Conduct a capability assessment that would inform the Executive and Congress on the current ability to address supply chains and describe shortfalls for future action.
Last year, the Promoting Resilient Supply Chains Act was passed out of the House Energy and Commerce Committee in a unanimous vote. In May 2024, the bill passed the full House of Representatives in an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote of 390-19. A companion bill was then introduced in the U.S. Senate by Senators Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.).
Blunt Rochester is a leading voice in Congress on finding bipartisan solutions to our supply chain challenges that impact American consumers, families, and businesses. In 2022, Blunt Rochester embarked on a Supply Chains Tour across Delaware to show the impact that supply chain disruptions were having on businesses large and small. Also, Blunt Rochester included supply chain legislation in her comprehensive Jobs Agenda that she unveiled in 2023. In 2024, Blunt Rochester brought Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Analysis Grant T. Harris to Delaware to strategize with members of Delaware’s life science and business sectors on how to fix our supply chains. Most recently, Blunt Rochester penned an Op-Ed on her bipartisan supply chain work in the Delaware Business Times.
