The U.S. Senate has passed a bipartisan bill co-sponsored by Iowa Senator Joni Ernst that directs the federal government to come up with a list of critical goods being imported into the U.S. and to identify ways to have them produced in rural America.
“Rural Iowans are ready to roll up their sleeves and build the factories and processing facilities we need to secure our supply chains,” Ernst said during a speech on the Senate floor. “We can and need to make things here, but you can’t fix vulnerabilities you can’t see.”
Ernst described the bill as focused on the economic and national security of the U.S. “We spent much of the last 50 years offshoring our jobs and manufacturing capabilities,” Ernst said. “This is something China, Russia, and other nefarious actors around the world have been all too happy to accommodate and take on themselves.”
If there’s a conflict with a country that supplies a key component, like microchips or rare earth minerals, Ernst suggested it could lead to the kind of supply chain issues Americans saw during COVID. “We’ve lost the ability to make what we need right here at home,” Ernst said.
The bill cleared the House in April and now heads to the president’s desk. Iowa Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks, a co-sponsor of the legislation, said it sets up “a roadmap” that will identify where the U-S is dependent on foreign supply chains and “find ways to bring that production back home.”