U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) announced Wednesday that they had introduced bipartisan, bicameral legislation to rebuild critical American industries and strengthen the supply chain.
The legislation, the National Development Strategy and Coordination Act, would increase strategic coordination amongst federal finance programs to bring industries like manufacturing back to the United States. The program would allocate $20 billion over the next 10 years to “supercharge” federal loans. The U.S. Department of Treasury’s Federal Financing Bank would control the funding. The legislation would also create a new executive committee of cabinet-level agency heads, including the Secretaries of Treasury, Defense, Commerce, and the Administrator of the Small Business Administration, among others.
“From the loss of good jobs to a weakened industrial base to shortages of basic grocery and pharmaceutical items, Americans are suffering from decades of misguided offshoring to countries like China,” Rubio said. “If we want to be a strong nation, we have to rebuild and invest in critical industries at home. This bill lays the groundwork by creating the roadmap, using existing tools within our government, to focus on and invest in things that actually matter.”
The legislation would charge the new committee with developing a National Development Strategy every four years that would look at three key areas – vulnerabilities in the supply in industries critical to national security, vulnerabilities and shortfalls in domestic manufacturing, and weaknesses in and opportunities to strengthen the industrial base, which may include supply chain resiliency, new technologies, and industrial supports. After its review, the committee would make recommendations on where to invest to address those weaknesses and vulnerabilities.
The committee would also be charged with executing the plan through its various agencies by directing them to set priorities consistent with that strategy.
“For decades, we watched as American industry went offshore, and the federal government has only offered a Band-Aid to communities that have been left behind,” Khanna said. “What we need now is a national project to restore our nation’s manufacturing leadership and unify Americans around a shared purpose. I’m proud to introduce this bicameral, bipartisan bill with Senator Rubio to help fix our supply chain issues in the long term and invest in critical industries and good paying jobs at home.”