VIDEO: Auchincloss Amendments Included in Passage of America COMPETES Act
Washington, D.C. - Today, the House of Representatives passed the America COMPETES Act of 2022, a generational investment in our economy, and our young and growing workforce. This legislation will build resilient supply chains, drive worker productivity by investing in research and development, and reinforce US global leadership in science and technology. Rep. Auchincloss introduced four amendments to the America COMPETES Act, all of which were included in the final passage of the bill.
WATCH: Auchincloss on COMPETES
Transcript:
"Today, the House is passing America COMPETES. This bill sustains and strengthens America's leadership in science and technology. It boosts productivity for economic growth here at home, and it streamlines supply chain challenges that have contributed to inflation.
"I introduced a series of amendments to America COMPETES, all of which have passed as part of the bill. These amendments counteract vaccine disinformation from the Chinese Communist Party. They boost production of vaccine components to strengthen America's vaccine diplomacy, which I have advocated for and led on over the last year. And they contribute to economic development and humanitarian relief in Afghanistan, where we have a special responsibility to the Afghan people."
Auchincloss Amendments
Countering PRC Vaccine Disinformation & Exploitation
This amendment establishes that it is US policy to strengthen cooperation with allies and partners around the world, specifically “to counter the PRC Government’s efforts to spread disinformation and disburse vaccines in exchange for exploitative concessions in low- to middle-income countries while maintaining US engagement with and support for multilateral vaccine procurement and equitable distribution.” This amendment will ensure that the US maintains its multilateral cooperation to vaccinate the world while countering the People’s Republic of China (PRC) Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) efforts to spread disinformation about vaccines and to extract concessions in exchange for vaccines.
This amendment directs the Development Finance Corporation to include the production of syringes in their programs to increase vaccine manufacturing capacity of critical medical supplies. This will help address the global syringe shortage that threatens the Biden administration’s goal of vaccinating 70 percent of the world against COVID-19 by September of this year. As background, the US has committed to donating over a billion doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to low- and middle-income countries, but this commitment does not currently include the syringes necessary to administer these vaccines.
This amendment will advance innovation in synthetic biology by directing the federal government to support the development of shared protocols and interoperability. It will also scale up synthetic biology research by supporting biomanufacturing testbeds based on open standards and protocols.
Afghanistan Economic Development
This amendment will support policies that advance economic development and humanitarian relief in Afghanistan, specifically to counter the PRC’s CCP’s threat to American interests and values. Rep. Auchincloss’ provision would direct the Treasury Department to work with other federal agencies to study the feasibility of establishing trade zones for licit commerce in Afghanistan, while protecting US national security interests.
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