PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in Senate · Feb 4, 2021
Public Health Emergency Production Act of 2021
This bill modifies funding, administration, and reporting related to the Defense Production Act of 1950. That act confers upon the President a broad set of authorities to influence domestic industry to secure essential materials and goods needed for the national defense.
Specifically, the bill eliminates a requirement to transfer any balance in excess of $750 million from the Defense Production Act Fund to the General Fund of the Department of the Treasury.
Showing the opening paragraphs of the official summary.
In addition, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) must require companies to prioritize fulfilling federal contracts or orders necessary for pandemic preparedness and response if HHS finds that the material being procured is essential to the public health and cannot be adequately sourced through normal distribution channels.
HHS must also establish, within the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, an office responsible for Defense Production Act of 1950 activities. Additionally, staff may rotate between the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Policy and specified components of HHS.
Furthermore, the Defense Production Act Committee must report monthly about the use of Defense Production Act of 1950 authorities during the COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) emergency.
People & committees
Sen. Duckworth, Tammy [D-IL] · D–IL
Legislative record
A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
Introduced in Senate
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We currently store references to these documents.
Source last updated: Jan 14, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
AI Conversation Starters
Choose a perspective, copy a prompt, and paste it into your preferred AI. Each prompt includes the bill version and available official source links, and asks for counterarguments as well as supporting evidence.
Analyze S.266 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.
Examine S.266 through a progressive lens, focusing on fairness, access, economic inequality, and effects on vulnerable communities. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and distinguish stated goals from demonstrated outcomes.
Examine S.266 through a conservative lens, focusing on fiscal responsibility, institutional stability, federalism, and the scope of government. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and any provisions that challenge this perspective.
Examine S.266 through a civil-liberties and limited-government lens. Consider individual rights, privacy, voluntary choice, accountability, and government power. Explain tradeoffs, possible safeguards, and the strongest counterarguments without assuming the proposal is beneficial or harmful.