North Iredell News

A North Carolina congressman is co-sponsoring a bill to block federally-qualified health facilities from sourcing pharmaceutical products from China as a way to reduce the country's reliance on the foreign provider. 

Rep. Ted Budd's (R-North Carolina) co-sponsored a bill that resembles messaging in political circles, including Republicans at times, that have focused on China for the blame of COVID-19 and also being the biggest supplier of medical necessities to the United States. 

However, the proposed legislation, according to an April 14 Statesville Record & Landmark report, that the last line states "nothing in this act" should divert the resources of the Food and Drug Administration from "responding to the COVID-10 public health emergency." 

Protecting our Pharmaceutical Supply Chain from China Act is the name of the proposed legislation Budd and his fellow Republican lawmakers introduced, including Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wisconsin), Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyoming), and Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-New York), the publication reported. The purpose of the bill is to provide economic incentives to companies to produce pharmaceuticals and necessary medical devices within the United States.

“This legislation gives companies economic incentives to manufacture pharmaceuticals and medical devices in the U.S., makes it easier to know which country a drug came from by creating a list of the country of origin of all drugs marketed in the United States, and prohibits federally qualified health facilities from purchasing pharmaceutical products from China,” the Statesville Record & Landmark reported.

If passed into law, the bill will require the secretary of Health and Human Services to keep a list of the country of origin of all the pharmaceuticals marketed and sold within the United States and would place a ban on the use of federal funds to purchase pharmaceuticals manufactured in China, the Statesville Record & Landmark reported.

The guidelines outlined within the bill are designed to include the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Defense, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and “any other federal health care program,” according to the publication. 

“As we work together to battle the coronavirus pandemic, we really have to start to rethink how reliant we are on China for medical supplies and pharmaceuticals,” Budd said, the Statesville Record & Landmark reported.