Lawmakers urge passage of law to bring pharmaceutical manufacturing back to U.S.

This is one bill I hope gets done and signed into law as soon as possible. Globalization looks good for multinational corporations but self sufficiency seems to always work better for the people.

UPDATED 10:43 AM PT — Monday, March 16, 2020

Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are teaming together in order to revitalize the U.S. drug manufacturing sector.

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) recently introduced the Securing America’s Medicine Cabinet (SAMC) Act to ramp up U.S. production of active pharmaceutical ingredients, or API’s. The pair believes the U.S. relies too heavily on foreign manufacturing of critical API’s, particularly in China.

“But right now, we depend heavily on Chinese and foreign companies to manufacture active pharmaceutical ingredients,” said Sen. Blackburn. “When this happens, we lose control of out supply.”

Urgency for passage of such a law follows the FDA’s announcement of a shortage of drugs to treat the coronavirus. The agency blamed difficulties in getting API’s from a Chinese manufacturing site.

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a reply to: 727Sky

As long as pollution is strongly controlled and we don't turn into china...

But the current EPA likes deregulation so that's a bit worrisome..

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More on the topic: New Trump Executive Order Would Reduce Dependency On China For Medical Supplies
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This is good news, finally under the leadership of this administration these types of malfeasance are being addressed and corrected.

originally posted by: 727Sky
This is one bill I hope gets done and signed into law as soon as possible. Globalization looks good for multinational corporations but self sufficiency seems to always work better for the people.

UPDATED 10:43 AM PT — Monday, March 16, 2020

Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are teaming together in order to revitalize the U.S. drug manufacturing sector.

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) recently introduced the Securing America’s Medicine Cabinet (SAMC) Act to ramp up U.S. production of active pharmaceutical ingredients, or API’s. The pair believes the U.S. relies too heavily on foreign manufacturing of critical API’s, particularly in China.

“But right now, we depend heavily on Chinese and foreign companies to manufacture active pharmaceutical ingredients,” said Sen. Blackburn. “When this happens, we lose control of out supply.”

Urgency for passage of such a law follows the FDA’s announcement of a shortage of drugs to treat the coronavirus. The agency blamed difficulties in getting API’s from a Chinese manufacturing site.

www.oann.com...

originally posted by: blueman12
a reply to: 727Sky

As long as pollution is strongly controlled and we don't turn into china...

But the current EPA likes deregulation so that's a bit worrisome..

I think it's more important not to be held hostage by communists.

a reply to: projectvxn


Agreed, while this whole craziness going on right now is bad and will bring some pain to many people, in the long run it will be better for our country because it has showed some of our big flaws and I am confident that changes will be made to improve on these situations if they ever happen again.

a reply to: 727Sky

correct me if I'm wrong but didn't manufacturing go overseas due to the free market. It was cheaper to do it there, so companies went there.

How would Trump move production back to the US without leading to price raises.

a reply to: projectvxn

I don't think so. Companies like medline already pushed the boundaries of not telling the surrounding public they may be at risk for high ethylene oxide exposure. www.gwclaw.com...

And that's a highly regulated company...

What's it going to be like if we start deregulating pharmaceutical hwalth standards in favor of creating our own pharma goods ?

Im just saying that this needs to be heavily regulated.

I'm hoping globslism took an irreparable hit through this crisis

a reply to: 727Sky

There are good bullet points due to the virus and this is one of them. It exposed a critical problem that is finally be addressed. Can't have one communist country with a staunch dictator cornering markets and then making bold threats about using those goods as leverage.

It's not just drugs and medical supplies either. It's everything. I'm all for capitalism but with constraints. Nobody should have all the power when it comes to supply chains. Both parties are at fault for this mess. They knew it was always a problem but did nothing for decades.

originally posted by: AaarghZombies
a reply to: 727Sky

correct me if I'm wrong but didn't manufacturing go overseas due to the free market. It was cheaper to do it there, so companies went there.

How would Trump move production back to the US without leading to price raises.

Prices will most likely have to go up, but at the same time, it is a national security issue to have critical medical supplies and drugs being manufactured overseas, particularly in a country such at China.

They can provide other incentives to help reduce cost for the companies such as lower taxes for companies that manufacture products in middle America.

When manufacturing goes overseas, the cost of production is supposed to go down. Less labor cost, less regulation, etc. However, to assume that generates a less expensive product to the consumer leaves out price gouging and corporate greed. If it cost less to make and they can still charge a small fortune, all the better for them.

With regards to environmental issues, at least in the US we can have some control over that. The EPA, for all it's bureaucratic faults, was designed in part to allow manufacturing and safeguard the the environment. Now whether they do that or not is another story.

Not sure what the downside is to rebuilding the US manufacturing base.

YES! YES! YES!

Bi Partisan support, lets get this done and signed into law!!

At the very least, we need to have some basic items manufactured here.

The Chinese Coronovirus was a blessing in disguise as it has single handidly brought people to the realization that we may be too dependent on china.

To hell with you multinational corps giving a stink eye and looking to lobby against this, your time is NOW LIMITED.

We need something like the SAMC Act to enable us to have access to these drugs and these compounds that they are identifying we need,” Sen. Blackburn explained.
If passed, the SAMC Act would expand the FDA’s emergency technology program to tackle issues relating to national security and drug shortages. A $100 million grant would be provided to establish facilities to develop these pharmaceuticals and effectively train the industry’s workforce.

However, it must be noted that this has been an issue, but if the President signs on, why not?

Blackburn and Menendez are optimistic their colleagues will adopt SAMC. The lawmakers noted that the Senate has been looking for a solution to the problem for years.

a reply to: 727Sky

I mean, this should be a no-brainer with bi-partisan support... never again should we allow critical goods (like medicine) be manufactured overseas anymore.. this should all be done in house..

I support this measure.

However, it shows how ineffective our current congress and senate is if it took this crisis for them act. People have literally been saying it is an issue having so many products made overseas, yet no one ever did anything about it.

Not only does it take needed jobs from Americans, it is a national security issue.

a reply to: 727Sky

Manufacturing went overseas because of the high US taxes and over-regulation.

Once the companies are back here, there will be those who will want to push them back out with higher taxes and more regulations.

originally posted by: Arnie123

Blackburn and Menendez are optimistic their colleagues will adopt SAMC. The lawmakers noted that the Senate has been looking for a solution to the problem for years.

Therein lies part of the problem. It shouldn't take years to figure out things like this.

Bring 25% of it back for good. Cost will go up but big picture, that's only one con. So what. I can think of 4-5 pros to counter that one devil's advocate point.

For one; jobs. For every dollar earned in the US by a US citizen, that dollar on average bounces around the economy 5-6 times. It's no longer bouncing around in China. Then we no longer have to rely on China. These will also likely be good jobs with benefits.

originally posted by: Stupidsecrets
Bring 25% of it back for good. Cost will go up but big picture, that's only one con. So what. I can think of 4-5 pros to counter that one devil's advocate point.

For one; jobs. For every dollar earned in the US by a US citizen, that dollar on average bounces around the economy 5-6 times. It's no longer bouncing around in China. Then we no longer have to rely on China. These will also likely be good jobs with benefits.

I say they should be required to make 80% of it in the US. At minimum 50%.

In addition, I'd offer benefits for locating plants / facilities in areas in the US deemed depressed.... cities in the heartland that have seen the manufacturing economies decimated.

I think the govt stance should be to make business super easy and low cost in the US. Take a stance that we will do what is necessary for you to keep jobs here. However, if you want to run to other countries, then you are on your own. When the chinese steal your sh*t, take over factories, put lead and crap in your product, do not come running back to the US asking for help.

this happened because people bought into the lie that manufacturing is cheaper outside the US and were ok with it so they did nothing to stop it, wages dont affect manufacturing costs as much as corporations have been saying. its actually more expensive making things in countries without expertise or developed infrastructure and highly skilled workers.

the real reason these corporations left is probably bribery and lack of labor regulations in these countries that allows them to do whatever they want to workers without consequences, like dumping waste in rivers, pushing workers like slaves, etc.

no environmental regulations, no health regulations, no safety regulations, no labor rules, that is why they really left and that is why you see things like trash filled toxic rivers in india.

the biggest obstacle to bringing stuff back from socialist countries like china is how they tend to nationalize whatever company has manufacturing in their country whenever America tried to bring it back to America, we will probably end up having to recreate entire industrial capabilities because there's no way china will let us just bring them back. China will do everything it can to stop that from happening.