U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., announced this week that he brought back “five pieces of pro-American industrial policy legislation.”
“We cannot be a strong nation if we are dependent on hostile foreign regimes for basic goods, medicines, and critical technologies. There is growing bipartisan support to prioritize rebuilding our critical industries. From lifesaving medicines to rare-earth minerals and everything in between, we need to be a nation that makes things again. Doing so will strengthen our nation’s supply chains and bring good jobs back to America,” Rubio said.
Rubio reintroduced the following bills:
MMEDS Act. First introduced in August 2020 and reintroduced in April 2021, the legislation encourages companies currently producing medical devices and pharmaceuticals abroad to relocate to the U.S., including Puerto Rico. By enacting a tax credit applicable to federal income tax liability for wages, Rubio’s bill would repatriate facilities to economically distressed zones. U.S. Rep. Jenniffer González-Colón, R-PR, introduced companion legislation in the U.S. House.
American Innovation and Manufacturing Act. First introduced in March 2021, the legislation would create a new facility in the Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) program to provide preferential and patient capital to America’s small manufacturers.
Facilitating the Reshoring of Energy Grid Component Manufacturing Act. First introduced in August 2022, the legislation would establish an energy grid product manufacturing loan program at the U.S. Department of Energy to finance $8 billion in loan guarantees for the re-equipping, expansion, or establishment of domestic energy grid product and component manufacturing facilities in the U.S.
ONSHORE Manufacturing Act. First introduced in April 2022, the legislation would incentivize the development of rare earth metallurgy manufacturing facilities in the United States by creating a financial investment program within the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).
Agility in Manufacturing Preparedness Act. First introduced in February 2022, the legislation would require the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) to contract with the National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals (NIIMBL) for the purpose of evaluating the current capacity and vulnerabilities of biopharmaceutical manufacturing in the U.S.
Rubio offered some of the reasons for the bills in a Medium post.
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