Rep. Torres and Sen. Menendez Lead Bicameral Letter Urging Administration to Fully Establish a National Database for American Manufacturing Supply Chains
Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Norma J. Torres (D-Calif.-35) and U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) sent a letter yesterday to U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo calling for the Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to follow congressional intent in establishing a centralized national Supply Chain Database. Without this database, which Congresswoman Torres and Senator Menendez helped incorporate into the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act, manufacturers will continue to lack the necessary tools to adequately respond to a future national emergency.
Earlier this year, the National Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) announced it would establish a pilot National Supply Chain Optimization and Intelligence Network Program. In their letter, Congresswoman Torres and Senator Menendez requested that the Department of Commerce provide a timeline for the creation of a permanent national Supply Chain Database and notify Congress if it needs additional assistance.
“As you know, the disruptions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the recent economic conditions in the United States highlighted widespread and significant supply chain vulnerabilities. This has reinforced the need for manufacturers and suppliers to communicate more effectively in order to respond rapidly to national emergencies and other disasters such as extreme weather. It is necessary to have a centralized national database that will enhance the ability of manufacturers to ensure that the United States is able to respond quickly and effectively during national disasters and periods of economic uncertainty,” the lawmakers wrote to Secretary Raimondo.
“We appreciate the Department’s work towards creating a pilot national supply chain database. However, the Department should move towards the creation of a permanent, centralized database so that manufacturers have access to a comprehensive MEP database network– improving the interconnectivity of manufacturers,” the lawmakers continued. “Congress authorized the Supply Chain Database to avoid a repeat of the bottlenecks that emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic… We are concerned that if the Supply Chain Database is created in a decentralized manner, manufacturers will not have the tools at their disposal to effectively respond to a future national emergency.”
Last Congress, Congresswoman Torres and Sen. Menendez, alongside Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.-03) and Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), introduced the National Manufacturing Extension Partnership Supply Chain Database (H.R.6118 / S.3290) and successfully included the creation of the database in the CHIPS and Science Act to help improve how manufactures can share critical information through a centralized database and minimize supply chain disruptions. The legislation was informed by a Department of Commerce report previously requested by the members.
The full text of the letter is available here.