Transcripts For CSPAN Hearing On Coronavirus Impact On Supply Chains 20240713

Thank you all for being here today. m going to go out of order, senator young has a related hearing to be at, i want to be sure hes able to be on the record before we begin. Senator young i first want to get on the record and thank our subblingt matter experts. If theres anything we legislative leaders ought to be doing an more broadly our government leaders, its listening to Public Health experts. Thank you so much and the experts in some of these discrete areas that will be impacted by the coronavirus. I regret that in minutes i have another meeting that pertains to this important topic. I just want to publicly express my intention to submit for the record some important questions i have for you related to the increasingly integrated supply chains that we now have between various enterprises and i guess this is this situation will create certain vulnerabilities uring times of what is now a pandemic. I have some questions related to supply Chain Mapping that im hoping someone will be prepared to answer and lastly, our reliance on foreignmade medical supplies is something that i think were going to have to rethink over the course of coming weeks, months, and years. But its certainly caused heightened awareness of this important issue. So your attention to those issues would be much appreciated. Thank you again, mr. Chairman, for this opportunity to say a few words and for holding this important hearing. Thank you. Well give the Ranking Member an opportunity for opening comments. He wants me to go first. Very nice people here. We work on a lot of stuff ogether. Senator rubio todays hearing is timely because of what were seeing. I was to bifurcate it into two steps, first what we can do to weather the storm thats going to be affected by the fact that people are in the going to be able to be together in places and thats going to impact cash flows and the impact on employees and in some cases the effects on businesses not being able to function. Thats the immediate thing we have to deal with if were triaging this right away. I think were beginning to see the outlines of a second problem, that is, what it means when your supply chain is disrupted. Meeting just left a with the entire senate with leaders in our country on health care. Whats becoming evident and apparent is one of the impediments to the widespread availability of testing is the supply chain unpredictabilities. Its not just the tests. If you dont have cotton swabs or the protective gear or basic material for the tests youll have a problem conducting those tests. From our perspective is the role Small Business can play structurally new and for years to come to ensure these sorts of supply Chain Disruptions dont become a National Threat to the country. A lot will be focused on china because thats where a lot of activity has gone. Its not just china. India, south korea, if youre a country that makes these things and youre facing this threat, youre going to hoard it. Youll act in the best interest of your nation. Thats understandable. We need to start acting in the best interest of our nation in these regards, thats important. Later today if we can bring it here, because i believe we can, we have been engaged before last night in conversations with the white house, with Ranking Member cardin and his team work individual members of this committee, with our counterparts in the house Small Business committee, on what relief the Small Businesses should look like and how we can help them and so hopefully later today were going to have an opportunity to present it and the crux of it as i have already outlined is taking the commitments the president made last night and funneling it through our program and Community Banks because they are in the community. They have, through Community Advantage and other related programs as well, have the ability to process the paper on this, were going to have to give them a little flexibility. We have to allow Small Businesses to use the funds they have borrowed to make payroll, to provide paid sick leave for employees that are hurt or employees that are sick or employees that frankly cant come to work. Were going to have to give them the flexibility to do that we want to make sure the money being lent is real and will be paid back. By the same token, thats where the Community Bank process can help, but we also have to make it quick. These guys cant wait 90 days to get these funds. Workers cant wait 90 days for the paid sick leave that will give the opportunity. I dent claim it solves all the problems, but it does help. If were going to make that commitment to Small Business it should be in a way thats most effective and responsible with taxpayer money. On the supply chain issue, i think the back drop to our general economy even before and this committee issued a report a year ago that warned about it, even before all of this, is that we are dangerously reliant in particular on china for the production of critical goods. That includes goods as i have outlined that are needed to fight the coronavirus. And i think we rely on far more goods than we know. And part of the economic pain thats going to be inflicted on the country as a result of these disruptions will be directly related to disruptions in the supply chain because of an outbreak that shut down factories that end up impacting the availability of important consumer goods. Just a brief review our staff put together for this hearing, last year, this is according to the census bureau, china accounted for 88 of electric hand drill and sawing imports. 87 of airconditioning machinely ry imports. 3 of jackson hoists, 73 for cell phones and its parts, 51 of lithium ion batteries and the list gos on and on. Disruptions in these supply chains tell you even after the virus is contained and starts coming under control we could have shortages and you know the industries relying on this, this is where the spread of this becomes much more serious. So the focus is on three things that we really want to talk about. First is the immediate consequence of not having the capacity to produce essentials here at home. Small businesses are going to experience a great deal of economic pain as a result of supply Chain Disruptions. But theres also going to be increased demand. Increased demand for medical supplies and surgical masks and pharmaceutical drugs and our Small Businesses can be a part of the answer to that. To filling in those gaps in the supply chain for critical sectors that have been exposed as weakened because of offshoring of our productive capacity to china and elsewhere. The absence of having these domestic businesses that can ramp up production to meet demand neers critical goods limits our ability to mitigate the worst effects of this virus beyond the broader Economic Impact. And the result is that the virus could end up being more damaging han it needed to be. And the Economic Impact greater than it needed to be. One of the reasons weve struggled to produce testing kits is because we rely on foreign producers for the chemicals needed to make them. Theres a growing shortage because more people are testing an as i said earlier, the countries that have it are going to be less willing to provide t. We need to look at what we can do through the s. B. A. , it has to be bipartisan, to help Small Business be a growth sector in our economy to meet some of this increased demand. Second, obviously that we will discuss and im sure youll point to is the consequences of as a result erblet particularly when it comes to china. This wasnt the accidental byproduct of demrobalization, its the outcome of a strategy on their part with their made in china 2025 plan, it encourages Domestic Companies and their predatory practices and provides a shortterm bargain for Foreign Company bus bigtime costs for our nation and the world. For years, china has been able to entice american multinational corporations with access to markets in exchange for offshoring and sharing intellectual property and weve watched as beijing captured critical portions of the Global Supply chain. Today 80 of the active pharmaceutical ingredients in the United States are sourced somewhere else. And a lot of that is china. And now in the face of the pandemic as i said the absence of this capacity in the medical sector is endangering our health care. Thats something we have to figure out in the shortterm and forever. Its hopefully something that we are able to act on to find out what role can Small Business play in growth and in taking back the ability to make these critical goods in the United States right now and in the future. So i hope that we can come up with a second wave of proposals that will empower Small Businesses to bring their production of critical goods all in house and getting american multinationals to buy domestically from them, in the as a matter of economic protectionism, but as a matter of National Security and National Economic stability. This is good for our Public Health. Its good for our economy. Its good for, as i said, our National Security and its good for our people. I look forward to hearing from our witnesses who are experts on these topics about what we can do to help Small Business be part of solving this challenge. Now i turn to the Ranking Member. Mr. Chairman, thank you very much for convening this hearing, as you pointed out, we came from an allsenatemembers briefing on the covid19 virus and its consequences. We learned from that briefing, what we heard last night, it has struck our family. Senator cantwells staff person has the virus. Senator cantwell, former chair, Senior Member of the committee and there are members of her staff now in quarantine as a result and of course one etting, needing treatment. We know this impacts all of us. I want to underscore the last point you made. Our First Priority is triage to deal with the circumstances were confronts today, whether medical circumstances or the economic circumstances. But i hope that we will follow your advice and recognize this will not be the last crisis that were going to have. In regard to supply chain, we need to take a look at making sure that we are better prepared for the next crisis that comes down than we were for this one. I agree and look forward to working with you in regard to those issues. Clearly our First Priority is the is to deal with the medical challenges. Thats our First Priority. We still are not where we should have been or need to be in regards to testing. We are developing the vaccines and drugs that will hopefully be available, the therapeutic drugs may be available to help us in this crisis, thats possible, the vaccines will not. Im proud of our leadership in regard to those developments at institutions located in the state of maryland. Including the National Institutes of health and Johns Hopkins university and university of maryland medical center. We need to deal with local responses, make sure they have the capacity, the hospital capacity, mitigate the spread and the emergency supplemental dealt with manufacture those needs and as the chairman pointed out, the first installment, not going to be the last installment, and we also have to deal with the Economic Impact, including the disruption of the supply chain to american Small Businesses. I was pleased to see that it was recognized in the supplemental, there was a recognition of the problems that Small Businesses are confronting. We recognize that small sinesses are very much impacted by the facts that americans are selfquarantining and not using the Business Community as much as they would, avoidance of gathers, cancellations of events, school closures, the trip cancellations, all that has an impact on american Small Businesses. I could give you specific examples in maryland. Johns cop hins Johns Hopkins Just Announced theyre closing their campus from the point of view of students and faculty. I can tell you Charles Village in baltimore city, a lot of Small Businesses located in Charles Village they depend upon the students and faculty. Theyre not going to be there. Its going to impact those Small Businesses. We can give you many, many more examples. Chanel wallace who owns a hair salon shared that order for Hair Extensions placed in january yet to be filled from her vendor in china. Jerry who owns a noodle restaurant in gaithersburg reported that his restaurant has experienced a 30 decline in sales. And the spread of the coronavirus is only going to make that situation worse. Sterling forever, a Jewelry Company based in town send reported that not only were some of the factories in their spy chain closed, their distributors were requesting advance fimet help with the crisis. The list goes on and on and on. We know that were just starting to see this. Its getting worse by the i would say by the day but it seems like its getting worse by the hour. We know we have an immediate crisis. Capital is the life blood of Small Businesses. We need to deal with that issue. The emergency supplemental allowed Small Businesses to qualify for Economic Injury disaster loans. And provided some resources to the Small Business administration in order to administration that. We need to build on that upplemental. Het let me point out, i have heard from some Small Businesses that they need information on how they qualify. We need to get that information out to Small Businesses so they can take advantage of what was in the first supplemental dealing with the coronavirus. Our Resource Partners need to be better empowered. Theyre the ones Small Businesses can go to for help. Our Women Business centers. Our Minority Business Development centers and other Resource Partners. We need to make sure they have the resources. We all heard last night as President Trump mentioned the number for Small Businesses that i thought was one that we could work with. 50 billion. We need to come together in a boinch solution. I hope the disaster loans will provide help and well deal with resiliency, the issueus talked about, paid leave for workers of Small Business. Dealing with telecommunicating telecommuting, thats going to cost some resources. Do we have resources to provide that . Lets look at the s. B. A. Loan pack adges, make them easier, more generous an less costly for Small Businesses to be able to take advantage of those, including looking at the cost of taking out a Small Business oan. I would hope we also look at one additional factor. If youve seen a 30 decline in your revenue, will you qualify for a loan . The disaster loans are direct loans. Thats good. From the s. B. A. But they have to be repaid. If you dont have the revenues, how are you expected to repay and will the s. B. A. Structure allow those loans to take place. We need to take a look at a targeted Grant Program to keep Small Businesses afloat. Why . Because thats where job growth, innovation and our economy depends upon it. This is an extraordinary crisis that requires us to respond in kind. Let us act in that regard to triage the current situation, be prepared for the future, i think we can Work Together and get this done. We need to do that for the sake of american businesses. As Congress Begins to address this Economic Impact of the coronavirus we must ensure we focus on being prepared to withstand the economic disruption that is occurring in our economy. I look forward to hearing from our very distinguished Witness Panel and look forward to all of their testimony. Senator rubio items we have discussed with your staff item we was discussed with your staff on the 7a part is allowing loans to be used for payroll support, including paid sick leave so employers could use that waive the fees on both the borrower and lender to lower the cost on the particularly the s. B. A. Express loans. Ensuring that increasing the loan limits for those, those turn around in about 36 hours and on the eidl loans which have already been approved for coronavirus impact, and 20 states have applied, the s. B. A. Will be able to determine repayment solely on the applicants credit score, they dont have to get tax returns or transcripts an they dont have to prove they couldnt get loans somewhere else. It wont solve every problem obviously but certainly we are trying to move as quickly as we can on these topics. It will have to b done because of the nature of this place, not to mention the nature of the crisis, in a bipartisan way. I think we can get to a point where we can put something forward that would achieve the president s purpose of getting 50 billion available to Small Business but do it in a way that works, is responsible and works for borrowers. With that i appreciate everyone who has come here. Were going to try to move on this now and were going to begin with all of oour witnesses. Ill begin with ms. Gibson, the Senior Advisor at the hastings center. She led National Health Care Initiatives at the Robert Wood Johnson foundation, author of chinarx exposing the risk of americas dependence on china for medicines. Ms. Gibson, thank you for being here. Ms. Gibson good morning, thank you, chairman rubio and members of the committee for the opportunity to be here today. Im here to talk about Small Businesses that are prepared to start production of critical medicines that are in short supply that are needed to care for people who are hospitalized with coronavirus. The medicines im talking about today are generic drugs and generics are 90 of the medicines we take. Members of Congress Take them,ing on pans of the white house, focus is generic drugs. Right now we are rationing in the United States of america, the term is on allocation. Essential medicines including critical antibiotics. That are necessary to treat hospitalized patients. With coronavirus. I visited a hospital last week and they theres an antibiotic they can no longer get. There are other antibiotics that are in short supply. There was a volunteer e. M. S. Worker who goes out on ambulances in her community and she said they dont have epinephrine on their ambulance which is used to revive people. I said what do you do . An she said we just drive faster to the hospital. The 8. 3 billion emergency package for coronavirus was an important step forward. Theres support for research for vaccines for coronavirus. Therapies to actually cure people with coronavirus. But there was nothing in that supplemental package to make here in the United States the essential generic drugs necessary to treat critically ill people with coronavirus. As well as critically ill people under normal circumstances in our nations hospitals. China is the dominant Global Chemicals the core to make thousands of our generic drugs. It was mentioned of the active ingredients coming from china and other countries. We have to look beyond the active ingredients. Thats the data the f. D. A. Has. But whats missing is the core chemicals. To make those active ingredients. For essential medicines to create coronavirus patients, sedatives, pressers to raise their Blood Pressure, antibiotics, 90 of those core chemicals are sourced in china. Theres talk that we should let the free market fix this. The reality is that there is no free market. Generic manufacturing has collapsed in the United States. There are only two western Companies Left that are making generic drugs. And they announced last year theyre dropping half their products because they can no longer make them so they are on the f. D. A. Shortage list. And how does this happen . Its because patterns of china forming cartels which has driven out production of so many of our core medicines, we cant make penicillin anymore because of what i wrote about in china rx, we cant make vitamin c, cant make aspirin and thousands an thousands of other medicines. India put out its export ban because its giant industry which provides us with 25 of our generics depends on china for those core kemcass. Chemicals. What can we do . In doing this work on china rx, companies have approached me. These are brillpoont people prepared tomorrow start using advanced Manufacturing Technology. To make medicines fully made here in the United States that are in short supply. There is a precedent for the u. S. Government to fund medicinal manufacture, namely flu vaccines through h. H. S. And barta. We can use that same mod tole make critical essential generic drugs through barta, through Publicprivate Partnerships, with investment for capital and equipment. But the production cost of using new technology would make our drugs much less expensive. Much less expensive. Id like to close by saying theres another thing we have to address and this is nothing to do with coronavirus. But there are thousands of children who died in recent years because we can no longer make the old staple je for thing drugs that are necessary to sustain them. These are children with rare diseases. There are Small Companies that approach me they want to make them. Together we can make a difference not only for coronavirus patients but for these children. I look forward to working with the committee and staff on how we together can do a lot of good to ensure every patient that is the medicines they need when they need them. Thank you very much. Senator rubio thank you for your testimony. I call on gerald anderson, director of hell policy and management and professor of interNational Health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Senator cardin hes also director of the Johns Hopkins enter for finance. Dr. Anderson i have been a professor at Johns Hopkins school of public hell for the last 37 years. Let me tell you my greatest fear of coronavirus. Yesterday i went to the local grocery store. Tonight ill go to the dry cleaners. And maybe go out to dinner with my wife. My greatest concern is people in Small Businesses will go to work with coronavirus. The shopkeeper will want to keep his business open because they dont have the funds to keep the Office Closed for 14 days. The worker will not realize she has coronavirus because she probably doesnt have sick leave. The uninsured worker wont have the 200 or so thats necessary for the coronavirus test. Remember, 10 of americans are uninsured. And they are most likely to be working in Small Businesses. So what can congress do to alleviate my fears . Pay the shopkeeper to close the business for 14 days if they do have an employee with coronavirus. A loan probably wont do the trick because most of them have huge debts anyway, as senator cardin said, grants may be necessary. At least for the next 90 days, make sure the person has at least 14 difes paid sick leave. And for the next 90 days, pay the provider, giving the test to the uninsured person at medicare rates. While Larger Companies allow the people to work from home, and Johns Hopkins is doing that for me, many Small Businesses dont have the option because they have to work with their clients facetoface. Helping the cruise line is under discussion. From a Public Health perspective, Small Businesses are so much more important than the cruise lines. We can get along without vacations. We cant get along without the Small Businesses. Businesses that feed us. Let me change the subject for a min. The good news in my testimony is that Small Business is going to develop the vaccine to treat coronavirus. A significant portion of the worlds new drugs come from uniquely american Publicprivate Partnership that involves the n. I. H. , our universities and medical centers, small Biotech Companies and finally, large pharmaceutical companies. Most of the initial Drug Development occurs in universities and small Biotech Companies, not the big pharmaceutical industries. For example, this is how the first drug that was effective in treating hepatitis c was developed. It began in a lab at Emery University with fund big the National Institutes for health. With promising result they started a Small Business and attracted venture capital. After the Clinical Trials showed positive results, a big company, gill ad in this case, purchased the Small Company and one year after that we had hepatitis c drugs with f. D. A. Approval and it was brought to market. One of the companies with a promising coronavirus right now is a Small Business. Its name is maderna, it began operations in 2011. The first clinical grade batch of this drug was shipped to the n. I. H. For a phase one Clinical Trial in late 2019 and the Clinical Trials have begun. In my written testimony i list three other Small Companies that are developing coronavirus and there are 40 other ones developing vaccines. So how can the Congress Help these small Biotech Companies develop the vaccine . The key is knowing that the Small Business will get paid for developing the vaccine. Congress can guarantee the purchase of a certain volume of vaccine at a price or giving advanced market commitments to purchase safe and effective products. In my written testimony, i also discuss some other ways the congress could help the Small Businesses provide services to direct to address the coronavirus epidemic. Small business can provide Telehealth Services to people in quarantine and in rural communities. People in quarantine need to discuss their Health Condition with medical professionals without subjecting the clinician or the public to the disease. Medicare now pays for telehealth but most private insurers do not. Congress could ensure that more generic drugs are made in america. In my written testimony, i explained how we helped create a small, Nonprofit Company thats going to manufacture drugs that are overpriced and in short supply. Working with Intermountain Health care and we created civica rx, its gotten up and running and is now manufacturing 20 drugs with 20 more in the pipeline. Blue cross just gave them 55 million to expand into the outpatient market. Finally, Small Business can atist cyst in worker train, many Small Businesses are not prepared to train their employees and Small Business can do that. Im happy to answer any questions. Thank you, dr. Anderson. Hes specializes in asia missile defense, arm crols but he was previously Deputy Assistant to the president for National Security and has written and spoken extensively about the National Security aspects of supply chain issues. Thank you for being here. Thank you, chairman rubio, Ranking Member cardin and members of the senate Small Business committee. Dr. Morrison i would like to start with the mr. Morrison i would like to start with the cold reality and simple fact. The National Health commission of the peoples public of china initially new of the wuhan virus as early as september of 2019. Yet initial disclosure didnt take place until january 11, 2020. I dont think its too much to ask how many people in the United States and elsewhere have been infected, goten sick or worse as a consequence of the Chinese Communist partys decision to sit on the fact of the epidemic. In fact, i think you as our elect officials must demant the answer to this question and determine how to respond. In twure, as ms. Gibson has explained, the United States stopped makingsen sill penicillin domestically. This happened without a vote in this body. It happened without decision in the executive branch. It was a decision prompted by chinas made in china 2025 plan to dominate what the Chinese Communist party determined were strategic sector which is Chinese Industries should control demrobally. We are here today to ask on a good day what does it mane to rely on the peoples republic of china for our basic health care commodities. A member of the u. S. China commission will tell you about his Blood Pressure medicine making him sick because it was contaminated with rock fuel in a chinese manufacturing facility. Rocket fuel. Surgeons arn this country may tell you about the hundreds, if not thousands, of surgeries that were canceled because millions of surgical gowns had to be recalled bauds they may not have been sterile when they were packaged up in the peoples republic of china and sent to the United States. This was in january of this year. Now what if there was a malign intent . For example, what if this body passes a resolution demanding a high level visit of an american official to taiwan in furtherance of the taiwan travel act of 2018 . What the United States chooses to sanction huawei or another Chinese State proxy for the uighur suppression. What if the Chinese Communist Party Decides to retaliate to these sovereign decision biscuiting off shipment of medicines to the United States . Do you think it cant happen . Ask the japanese who lost access to rare earth elements from the peoples republic of china in 2010 over territorial dispute. The peoples republic of chinas stateowned jinwa, a communist Party Propaganda outlet, noted that the p. R. C. Could, and i quote, plunge the u. S. Into the mighty sea of coronavirus, end quote, if it wanted to do. So i ask you to think about all the tools of economic state craft you can use to support american producers including Small Businesses and strategic industries. For example, i know several of you were involved in the passage of the build act in 2018. This was an effort to Leverage Private Sector Investment in International Development to Counter China inc. What other tools are available to do the same at the Small Business administration or Exportimport Bank . I urge you do not allow americas job creators and innovators to be unilaterally disaarped. Their government can and should defend them from foreign agreg. Chairman rubio, your amendment to last Years National Defense Authorization act concerning reliance on the p. R. C. For pharmaceuticals was a key step. You sounded the alarm on this risk. Lastly, i know several of you serb on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and related National Security committees. I urge you to investigate the influence of the peoples republic of china in International Organizations like the World Health Organization. Ask yourselves why, despite meeting all the established cy cry tier ark the World Health Organization waited more than three months to label covid19 a pandemic . Why is the World Health Organization choosing now to adopt chinas playbook by remove 250eug wan from its countrys list . I stand ready to answer your questions. Thank you. Our final witness, ms. Lynn briscoe of the Small Business Development Center in the Southern Maryland region. Thank you for being here. Good morning, thank you for having me this morning. Lin briscoe, acting director for the Small Business Development Center. In that capacity i consult with manufacturers throughout the state of maryland. Based on those experiences i wish to offer recommendations to your committee. I see the coronavirus pandemic and supply Chain Disruptions its cause for some Companies Offering an opportunity to address the supply chain concern with a longer term question. What opportunities does the Current Crisis offer u. S. Businesses to fulfill a newly emerging supply chain vulnerables within other companies. And how can these supply chain opportunities assist american Small Businesses long after the Current Health crisis has come and gone. In other words, i believe that we should act and think about the supply Chain Disruption and the Current Crisis in a way that will take us beyond the Current Crisis and set our economy on a level plane. When i consult with maryland Manufacturing Companies i insist they have at least three alternative sources for the products that they produce. This is something that is going to be long beyond the Current Health crisis and something thats the f. D. A. Can help make happen. My idea, ive created based on my experience with Manufacturing Companies im recommended that you direct the Small Business administration to produce a nationwide list of companies, let them selfidentify of their supply chain concerns, those that have current supply chain concerns an those that forecast in the future of having supply chain concerns. From there, it would be a selfidentified list of made in america products and services. F. D. A. Would be monitoring. This would be businesses they f. D. A. Has worked with throughout the country currently as well as other over the last 0 years. If they find when doing outreach efforts a company in miami producing paper and its largest manufacture may be china, can we find an American Company to replace that source . Again, another example. A maryland based company that may be looking to replace its suppliers of key ingredients for bakery supply products of a specialty product that it sells locally. The s. B. A. Doesnt have to do this process alone, it can Work Together with other federal agencies such as the department of commerce, Minority Business Department development scradmrgs to identify additional Smaller Companies that may be having oncerns. It could be paper spries or weeteners. It would be distributed throughout our network of Development Centers as well as the agencies the s. B. A. Regularly communicates with. They are looking to expand supply chain suppliers as well as Companies Looking to bels bolster supplies domestically is essential to our nations economy. May we learn from this time and learn from this crisis using this to strengthen our nations ell into the future. And how i em is suggest we move the nation forward and proceed. We should look at the situation as a way to strengthen americas supply chain and ways to benefit americas smaller businesses. So i appreciate you listening to my suggestion of creating a voluntary optin nationwide list of supply chain opportunities and for recognizing the insights of americas Small Business Development Center consulting and what we bring into solving this national problem. By inviting me to the panel today. Thank you for your time. Senator cardin spks ms. Briscoe, let me ask a question. I think your suggestion is an excellent suggestion. It does point out the fact that we need to be better prepared for the next crisis. I say that in my opening statement. We need to have better supply hains locally. Theres real opportunity for Small Businesses helping us in that regard. The the challenge will be able to connect opportunities with the businesses that are there. Heres where our Resource Partners can be of tremendous help. I appreciate what you do in the maryland. The Minority Development Business Centers are Women Business centers. Of contact e places connect toists could the companies that are out there provideestors to really new opportunities for Small Businesses. So i just really wanted to and get from you your reach out. Day to were going we already relief the disaster programs for Small Businesses that can qualify. Going to be e knocking on your door saying, can we get help under this program . Will help. F maryland theyre going to be your offices are going to be called upon to this. Do you have the capacity to take care reach to of the, for example, the suggestion you made on list . Ping a well, it would start by data from the businesses so the s. B. A. Is what im recommending start from the down, utilizing the Small Business Development Centers, agencies all of the that work along with the s. B. A. And find the businesses that products do produce here in this country that can be of assistance to other businesses. S. Briscoe that they may not be aware of. The first short term would be identifying what is made here in country and from there, s. B. A. Would then followup with optin h sort of an matching, if theres a company thats looking for that product now being and theyre matched with a product and service thats made here with exchange. Ess in thats how we foresee this rolling out from the topdown through the. Resource partners such as the Small Business Development Center and score and the Business Centers and the Women Business centers and our veteran Business Centers and onnecting with the Key Stakeholders throughout the state and then not just doing it country, oughout the working along with the Commerce Department and all of the other work with ncies that businesses so that we can from a higher level identify whats made here currently and how that can be a gap in the supply chain for the businesses them here nationally. Mr. Cardenas i think its cardin i think its an excellent suggestion. Where the know resources need to be placed in order to make that a reality. Youve given us a good blueprint for that. Ou pretty rson, you gave a chilling account. You are a Small Business owner, youre running a cleaning establishment, depends upon you perhaps one or two other workers, you contract you well. Feel the advice is for you to go home and stay home. Your rhaps someone in operation in fact did get the virus. Treated e going to be and be isolated for a period of time. Thats what we want you to do. To spread thatou disease to the people coming into your establishment because keep your business open. So how do we provide the help to that type of a Small Business owner which is in spread rest to stop the of the virus but also to keep of business open because the impact it has on the local community . About and n talked were working on a program thats going to make it easier loans, including the how we determine whether theyre credit worthy. Important steps. But if youre talking about tosing a business, its hard understand how you can deal with and er loan on top of that thats why i appreciate your response in regards to perhaps program. T a grant its a little more complicated because we havent done that in your st, but i take it comment means in our toolbox, if we really are interested in crisis, we areis going to have to look beyond the traditional loans. Yeah. Derson my local person that does my drycleaning, theres two people that work in that place. Sure theres somebody in the back office, but there are two people in the front office. Coronavirus, has that place has to close because essentially they cant work with just one person. And theyre not going to be necessarily, to take out a loan. Need help to to open again 14 days later. Theyre grant is what going to actually need. Senator cardin i thank you. We ink we have to have have to be flexible. Could a crisis no one anticipate how its impacting. Its becoming more and more devastating to our economy. To need to ng develop in congress flexible ool kit in order to keep businesses going in our community, particularly Small Businesses. I, again, thank you all for your testimony. Thank you. Holley. Senator holley thank you for a using on the attention of significant topic. I think its been clear for a while we are far too reliant on for our domestic production, especially for essential products that we rely n and of course our medical supply chain is at the very top of that list as were sadly finding out. His is one of the reasons i introduced legislation two weeks ago that would give the f. D. A. Authority to require our medical product manufacturers eport all the details of their supply chain, report where they are facing potential shortages and give f. D. A. New authority to speed potential replacements. Ideally replacements made in this country. Ms. Gibson, you stated in your estimony that we know china produces about 9 of our generic lot. Which is a do you have a sense of how many of our drugs involve chinese production . Words, maybe they are not made wholly there. Thousands. Thousands of our generic drugs and even some of the brand name perhaps new therapies for the coronavirus virus may depend on the that are sourced primarily in china. If youre hospitalized with coronavirus, if youre rare for ed, which is people. Ventilator. On a sedative like a fentanyl. Dopamine or epinephrine. You might get a secondary bacterial in nature, and you need antibiotics. Septic which is life threatening. I was sitting in a room with the eople that actually make medicines. These are the men and women in harmaceutical engineering, pharmaceutical chemistry. Tell me, if you have to make these tomorrow, where do the chemicals come from to make it . How much are we dependent on china . Of the chemicals o make those basic generic drugs depend on china. The good news is that there is Manufacturing Technology and really brilliant chemists right here in the that want to make it, are capable of starting tomorrow. R. X. , they committed all their a. P. I. s being made outside of china but they want next step and make chemical components were not dependent on china. Advancing Manufacturing Technology. We have brilliant people in this country. We want to make medicines here. Testimony ley your is eye opening. We probably do not appreciate or have not appreciated until now our reliance, the true scale of the vulnerability chain. Medical supply senator hawley dr. Anderson, in view, whats the most helpful thing the federal government can do to support the companies that you write about, what are the right incentives we should be adopting . Or dr. Anderson essentially they have a guaranteed place to sell products. So right now they are coming up these great new ideas. Mostly in not in cancer where theres a lot of rofit in there, but in antiinfection, antibiotics to develop something new in that the Current System doesnt work. Why we have created civic r. X. Which is this thing of Intermountain Health care in utah and other places. We just do not see that producing was certain areas because the profitability was not high enough. Hawley let me ask you Something Else i found interesting. Small biotech itsnies have discoveries, the large fapharma companies th often buy them up and gain i. P. Ship over the im wondering if that trend accelerates the offshoring of are thosety to china, things related . Dr. Anderson well, i think what were seeing now in fact thats happening. All of a sudden, you know, pfizer has their major in china. Ing plant so the Big Companies are looking produce it the least expensively and are going genericspecially in the because its all price driven. Enator hawley mr. Morrison, before i run out of time, i was reading your testimony and astounded to learn you it ms. Gibson, you said it, too. Manufacturing encilian in this country in 1994. 62 million penicillin in theptions were filled United States. I have two little boys at home. Counted for a number of those. The good to move production of penicillin an economic decision, a profit driven, is that your understanding . Yeah. Rrison the point is to destroy the free market and create incentives to in china anduction originally it seemed like a good thing. Prices. Ve well move value where value can be moved. Well continue to do the innovation. Scooping that up as well. And so without any decision by any government authority, this now we are going to deal with the consequences. F course, an antibiotic is instrumental to treat a virus ut a respiratory infection it is. Senator hawley it strikes me, drug airman, our current policy privileges economic considerations, maybe a few companies over Public Health is that fair to say, mr. Morrison . Mr. Morrison i would largely agree, mr. Chairman. Booker. Or senator booker mr. Chairman, thank you very much. I have three areas i want to get in a short five minutes. Dr. Anderson, maybe i can get you. m uncomfortable right now senate is about to go on recess. Curb increasing level of infections will continue to go up. Will say that. Our control actions to try to bend that curve is having a director during firsttorm sandy, its the order of keeping people safe but its the second order of consequences when that happens. To face nationwide second order consequences what have close what it means to go home and stay home. An you tell me in 30 seconds, sound the alarm, going out tonight to your store, what does if we have largescale rders for social for social isolation as well as basically people sheltering in place in economies e local that depend upon Small Businesses, can paint this icture for me, because i think we need to be taking a lot more dramatic action to try to a lot of the Small Businesses and help people who crisis. G through this oi dr. Anderson i just walked i ough my neighborhood and see restaurants empty. I see dry cleaners, no one going. Or so a the last week fundamental change in how the working. S and i think the stock market is telling you thats whats happening. Were seeing in the real world, in our eighborhoods every day is just senator booker something as basic as school closing, crises. E i live in a community at poverty line where people if they miss make a heck they cant rent paycheck, they cant make a car payment, their lives spiral of control. In ing a person that works the Food Industry dr. Anderson unless they get paid. Sure theyre ake willing to stay home. Senator booker 80 of food have paid family leave. We see the spread of flu because food. E handling our we cant bend the curve until we make it they can stay home putting themselves in pending doom. I want to stop right there. And gibson, rrison i wish every senator could read that. Clearly this is a National Security issue. Just pharmaceuticals. It is rare earth metals. That go through the things should something more major in terms of a conflict between us out, it would s cripple our economy and our health and wellbeing and safety. So this idea that its a free market, when i know this people arersey, that luring companies to manufacture ver in china and so, again, knowing here we are in a time of crisis, its too late as a federal government be doing more on make sure we are building manufacturing capacity here . Gibson. Ms. Gibson yes. What we can do and what Small Businesses want to do to prevent future situation with drug shortages, they want to make the ingredients which what makes the medicine medicine. They can make it fully here in using advancedes Manufacturing Technology. Because it lasts longer than the drugs. Nd if we have another coronavirus outbreak, have a standup facility ready to go, know, e have with, you companies have these as backup, redundant capability. Ake that a. P. I. Out and make those medicines that are in critical shortage. The innovative thinking and the technology and the brilliance enator booker this takes conscious, longterm planning. You cant just flip a switch and ave the manufacturing capacity here. I have a bill that tries talking about feeding critical startup so we build it correct. Ms. Gibson there are Small Businesses that can start active ingredients made here in the United States. Weeks. Uld start within it would take maybe nine months to start making small key itities of these ingredients fully made in the United States, not dependent on china for chemicals. Do that in about nine months and they can start with v. A. , use le d. O. D. , our governments purchasing power to stimulate the market. Morrison you have tremendous purchasing power through medicare, medicaid, the department of veterans affairs. These are some of the Largest Health care consumers in the world. Ou can control their procurement regulations. If i could make one more pitch. Right now, the federal allowed maybe be about to allow the in the fund to invest index. We will be investing in chinese enterprises. Years for the federal government. Please dont put my pension in nontransparent Chinese Companies. Booker i want to make a massive appeal to my chairman. His could be a community urgency. We can address this. Its not that hard. E dont have the collective will. This is a National Security crisis that one of our serious dversaries is doing things strategically to undermine our health and economic wellbeing hich at any point they could cripple our economy. And actually this has a winwin. T corrects a National Security crisis. It actually helps our overall economy. Nd the fact theyre doing it and were not so i appeal to the chairman and the Ranking Member, work on this as a project. This is an obvious area where we hould have bipartisan commitment to build more manufacturing. Ic absolutely. We are trying to figure out what help the Small Businesses quickly right now. But were going to have to come a host of more on issues. This hearing has been scheduled for over a month and a half. We all right identified this in our report last year. I agree with you. People e still a couple that debate whether we have a supply chain issue. Be able to theyll make that argument here any longer. Underscore what the chairman is saying. E will try to get something done early today if at all possible. We recognize within the next ouple weeks we really need to put together a package that is going to make a broader appeal that are the issues here. Were not talking about months. Senator cardin we need to an ond while theres interest. So were going to try to work with everyone and see what we can get done. One last point before i turn to senator hirono, that t to do it in a way obviously respects the jurisdiction of this committee which is Small Businesses that supply Chain Disruption vulnerability but also Small Businesses are the answer to the vulnerability. That will require access to capital and the ability to up. St, ramp so we got some work to do. Im glad we got a head start on this. F senator hirono. Enator hirono thank you, mr. Chairman. Ms. Gibson, did i hear you say e can reduce or totally eliminate the overdependence we have on china, that we in our to try have the capacity create or manufacture these chemicals that are so necessary . S. Gibson for a lot of medicines, brilliant chemists engineers canical make these chemicals here. Enator hirono why is that not happening . Ms. Gibson on the generic side, the margins are so slim that companies would not invest in a and equipment to do it. Generic last large company, in morgantown, west marged with pfizer. And pfizer last year announced its global of generic headquarters in shanghai so we dont have these companies. Theres two more companies. They will be gone. Hirono they can make those relocation decisions. Suggesting there will be some suggesting that would affect cost on companies that bring their manufacturing to places like china . Ms. Gibson i think the horse is out of the barn on that. And incent Small Businesses that are eager to fill this very large vacuum that we have . To do it. Im sure they would want to medicines andtial all their ingredients made here in the United States. The d. O. D. Could purchase it. V. A. We could start a whole new market with manufacturing here in the United States. Think we will i have to figure out though. If a Small Business creates chemicals, etc. , and they get bought up by a Larger Company thats interested n the bottom line, they go off to china, thats not resolving the situation. Towhat were obviously going need to come up with some really, in my view, tightly drafted legislation that will where we need to go. Ms. Gibson there are provisions that can be done that you cant sell your plant for national reasons. If the or hirono those are kind of ideas we need to put in place. Dr. Anderson, here we are in the pandemic. Its here and now. I know, you know, any state dependent, still dependent on tourism, a major part of the economy, and i will states, tourism is their number one or number two driving factor. Were already seeing thousands of people losing their jobs. Not of them probably do have paid leave. Sick leave or anything else. Now, i agree with we really need to figure out how to ease the mpact on workers and their families on the here and now because if we expect people, 20 to go to t insured, the doctor, thats not likely to happen. Has really crisis lluminated and illustrated the huge gaps in Health Care Coverage in our country and how creating a risk for all of us. So we can have that conversation later. For the here and now, im wondering whether you think, dr. Nderson, we obviously need to have a lot more testing in our country so that we can get a this how far much of this virus is already in our country. We do not know that. Testing. And then obviously were going see this continue if we dont develop a vaccine. Would you agree developing and critical vaccine are to our ability to get a handle on the spread of coronavirus in country . Dr. Anderson first of all, the vaccine is absolutely critical, take a year orto whatever. Senator hirono in the fall hopefully it dont happen again but it may resurge in the fall. Go back to the question of what we can do besides for drugs because we are now working with the state of california and they have said essentially t to manufacture or produce drugs for they Million People that insure. And they are trying now to do based upon plants in california. 13 so they have the power of Million People that could manufacture drugs, and theyre do it with civic and other places based in the idea. This huge ent has purchasing power and can use it that are gs manufactured or produced in the United States. Senator hirono im all for its purchasing power. I note we cant even under have a discussion about, you know, drug purchasing. E cant even negotiate those things. Im all for our government using kind of to create the situation where drugs that we produced for our people. We apparently arent there yet. Whatever you can do to raise voices to head us in the right direction along these lines, im grateful. Dr. Anderson medicare cant but medicaid can. D. O. D. Can. V. A. Can. Theres a number of very important buyers in the public can. M that senator hirono yes. Medicare, though, is a huge gap. I understand. Senator shaheen. Senator shaheen thank you very much for being here and for your testimony. The president last night talked about one of the actions that he taking would be to invoke a travel ban on passengers coming e. U. And initially it sounded like he was also saying argo, although that got corrected later. But given what senator hirono i know to be true in New Hampshire about the tourism e of the industry and the impact on so many Small Businesses of our european travelers, can you to what the impact of that might be on the Small Businesses working with . I had some questions as did other senators earlier at a briefing on the coronavirus the u. K. Was exempt from that travel ban and what we is because they are no brexit ecause of not part of the zone where people can travel across borders screening. But they are a part of that zone 2020. December of so they are still very much in just saying that i guess as a point. Im not necessarily asking you comment on that. If you could comment on what the will be on hink Small Business of the travel ban from european customers. R. Anderson so i think its going to be huge for the people. Ust in the washington, d. C. , area, we get so many visitors. You get them in, you know, for things. Nd other you know, these are huge industries that are going to be 20 , 30 of their business literally overnight. Hey dont have they dont have contingency plans for a 20 or 30 reduction in their business. Its not just, oh, take out a loan. You are going to need some real immediately that you know you dont have to pay back because youre going to be in while. E for a senator shaheen ms. Briscoe, have you heard from any folks the cbds in maryland or is it too soon . Ms. Briscoe we have not reached out any businesses specifically the supply chain impact at this moment but we will be sending out a correspondence to caseload to ask them, have how do an impact or they feel about a future impact . They may have supplies that can sustain them currently, but is for the long run that they can maintain. So we will be in communications with them. Shaheen great. Thank you. F. D. A. Ary 27, the pointed out that it had received its first notification from a manufacturer about a drug shortage. Sorry i didnt hear all of the from ms. Earlier gibson and dr. Anderson, so you this. Ve referenced the question that i have is publics balance the need to know on an issue like creating a run real panic gs and a about how to respond to that situation . Ms. Gibson i think the f. D. A. Did the right thing and not medicine because that would have contributed to the ng and precluded opportunity to allocate it to those people who are who need most. I also think we had drug shortages in this country for 20 years, and we havent been honest about the impa had on hat its patients. At some point, maybe when krfsh, we coronavirus, we get this, we need to have an honest conversation about the hortages of medicine in this country, the real root causes and address those. So the f. D. A. Says there theres about 100 drugs in we es like Johns Hopkins, know there are 250, 300 drugs that are on shortage. Borrow it from the university of pennsylvania and then pay it back to the mayo sorts of do all bartering on when there is in fact a shortage. Thing. S is not a new its just going to get worse if because so vel bans many of the drugs are manufactured overseas. Thator shaheen of course, doesnt address the cost of so many drugs, which while they may available, if you cant afford to use them because you dont have insurance and cant cost, it youre in the same position. Dr. Anderson well, thats particularly true in this case uninsured because if you go to the doctor, its going to cost you 200 just to get a test and if you need to get some kind of xray or going to be s 1,000. I probably ured, dont have 200 or 1,000. Senator shaheen as you point out, there is an opportunity for of those at some issues and hopefully respond in a more positive way going forward. Morrison, id reich to share your id like to share your about the thrift saving index. D the msci using that index to make those investments, senator rubio and i for been beating that drum a while without much support from the administration. Enator rubio time is running out. Senator shaheen thank you very much. R. Morrison we have reason to believe senator rubio we believe they have expedited moving in that direction. Its crazy. Know its not a term that you normally use to describe all the nuts. This is taking the Retirement Funds of federal employees in the invested in e companies in china that are to undermine ng our National Security, our ealth care security, and our economic security. Happen. t something so serious youd laugh at. Its something from the inquirer. Its real. See action taken on this promptly. Ready . Rosen, are you senator rosen thank you, mr. Chairman. Member. U to ranking thank you to you all being here today. It has been ay, quite the roller coaster since its oronavirus has reared ugly head and its going to probably get worse before it better. And so practically speaking, i can tell you that people think nevada, las vegas, as these those. Asinos and we are in fact, 99 of businesses in Small Businesses in support of a lot especially in the Southern Nevada area, in upport of those large businesses. They provide over 40 of the state. Jobs in our they really are the backbone of our economy. Ome of them, you think about all the weddings we have. Theyre the vendors who bring the flowers and the candles. All of those people that have make that magic happen in las vegas. Reno, and all across our state. And we have nearly 50 million of year. Visitors a so as far as Small Businesses do you havegestions for the businesses to be able to current some way to the environment . Maybe specifically if you could speak to people in the travel tourism industry, working through the Small Business are they a center, good cooperative partner, the s. B. A. . How ou just talk about these supportive businesses from if you ism industry, can . Anyone at all or just in general . Try. Orrison let me i think the key thing is to make sure they are going to be around in three months or two months. Think what and i the challenge is, if you just give them a loan, theyre going because theyre now going to have to pay for it and not get any money for the the two months or so for flowers and all those things. Going to be ys having weddings and using all those flowers because they cant bring all their friends and wedding. To the senator rosen right. Dr. Anderson so youre going to have to essentially, if you want two to survive after months, is to give them a grant to survive. Youre going to have to give the worker who might have coronavirus 14 days of paid sick so that they can quarantine at home. And youre going to have to give uninsured person whos got it, who needs to go to the have the 200snt to go to the doctor some money. Of you pay them on the basis medicare rates. You make them a medicare ben ou not make them a Medicare Beneficiary but pay them on the basis of medicare so they do get testi test tested and so we know youre safe to go to a Small Business. We feel like its not safe to go as a Small Business, home. Going to stay at senator rosen we have to remove he obstacles for doing it, specifically getting tested and being quarantined, thats the est thing, and then Financial Financial support that may not need to be repaid back. Its going to take a while for we dohing to recover when hopefully all go into recovery. I know this is going to this across the country. Not specific to tourism but we a lot of wonderful things about our entire nation. Is its diversity. I heard stories about people in not esses that theyre buying frozen chinese food in the grocery store. Not going to because they think the virus is going to be at the Chinese Restaurant or think that, oh, now its been in italy so i shouldnt do that. R how do you think the mechanism small e of our businesses, i guess they can put dispel , but how do we these myths you shopping or going to an Italian Restaurant not nderson, nevada, is going to give you the its not getting the coronavirus from italy . Ms. Gibson ill take a stab at it. To the extent food service from ies import food china, we do have a lot of food imports from china. The ould be mindful that f. D. A. Withdrew its inspectors from there to protect them what was going on. Is, whos going to be inspecting the places that are making our food in china or to ensure that it is safe . Nd the same is true for our medicines. Senator rosen thats a different issue. Different thats issue what you are talking about but there is concern there. Long time until the f. D. A. Can get back into china and some of these other countries to do the work they to protect the american people. Senator rosen thank you. Enator rubio ill go ahead and followup because i have a number of questions. To thank our panelists. I do want to respond to ms. Response about drug shortages. Theres no question the coronavirus is causing a concern drugs. R supply chain on senator cardin thats a fact. We need to be able to have domestic productions. Need. A but make no mistake about it, he couple hundred drugs that were short before the coronavirus have nothing to do with the supply chain issue ecause they were produced domestically. It had to do about the economics those medicines because they were basically which the medicines pharmaceutical companies werent making big profits off of and thats a fact. Dpeelg with the shortages when were dealing with the shortages of drugs, let us make it clear that we have make sure ities to that drugs are available in this country and its not just supply chain. The economics of how the pharmaceutical industry is rganized here in the United States. Dr. Anderson thats why when we civica we had a guaranteed market. ,200 hospitals jumped up and said we know there are shortages. E will buy these drugs from civica. We will guarantee the purchase of those. Having a guaranteed purchase is for these Small Businesses. Ms. Gibson if i may add, companies are competing, not with companies in theyre competing with the Chinese Government, because their Domestic Companies are subsidized. An unlevel is Playing Field. Again, i want to thank the witnesses for their testimony. Senator rubio thank you. Before we conclude, i have a of sort of observations points. Nt to list first, let me begin by saying, m a big believer in capitalism. I am a big believer in free markets. One of the reasons i am is a it believe it is provides, for the most, the most sufficient allocation of capital productive place. However, there are times in hich the most efficient allocation of capital does not align with our national interest. In which it times doesnt align with our national interest, its incumbent upon policymakers to make adjustments. That. Are now facing for many months and years weve been making this conversation talking about this in conversation with people nd the answer always was that either the problem never existed this of being a rejection of the market. It was theoretical. Longer theoretical. We have the source just in the ealth care and medical field a market decision that it was more do it nt that you can with lower costs, despite transportation, everything else, things ade these somewhere else. And thats what the market did. Destroying jobs and Companies Providing it there. Ts not some antichina narrative. Here is a narrative that a geopolitical competitor. The reality is, they didnt do it on purpose. Factories n of because of the outbreak of this virus hasim pacts that is us here. The question becomes, how do we address it . Hat can we do to incentivize investment in Critical Industries . And topic of Critical Industries broader than it has ever been in the history of the world. To identify what those Critical Industries are and then decide from a small perspective what do we incentivize investment in that in those industries . Potentially uire Government Investment but also incentivizing private investment in those fields. That an accurate way to assess the challenge before us in that what we have seen these things leading is the combination of our adherence to let the market decide where it oes, which is generally the right decision, combined with a eliberate policy aim on behalf of the Chinese Government to attract that capacity away from we have reached inefficient outcomes despite market interference on their that now places our National Security and economic danger . Interests in dr. Anderson so i agree with you totally. Slight just make one modification and that is saying, but overnment investment government purchase. I think its important for the Small Businesses enator rubio on the demand side . Dr. Anderson the demand side. They have to have a guaranteed market. Working in e california, theyre going to buy californians. The state is going to buy. Allows a company to get started in california because market. E a guaranteed civica has a guaranteed market for 1,200 hospitals. Started. Willing to get otherwise, they wouldnt get started. O guaranteed purchase is the critical senator rubio so in that ealm, let me say theres a Court Decision that undermines the ability to do that. To d. And v. A. Requirement buy american on key components and the court ruled against it and so this requires fix. Gislative dr. Anderson correct. Senator rubio theres hopefully any moment or day now by theutive order issued white house that will strengthen these buy american requirements because now the federal addition to the driving investment, there is a it and wehat will buy customer. A big its not a means of production. Thats what socialism is. Its government saying its in to do ional interest these things. This is not just about this is not even protectionism. Is security. I hope we can fix that. Ms. Gibson if i may add, fortor rubio, and thank you your leadership on this. You know, we wouldnt have our military arriers or equipment, you know, fully made in china. If we want to do a free market, allan do that and outsource of that. We realize a point we dont want to cross. Have say if we want to manufacturing here in the United States for our central drugs, as issue, if wecurity look at how weve been making edicines, its the same way weve been doing it100 years ago. It 100 years ago. That will take some initial investment so the d. O. D. And the v. A. Can have all of their components made here in the u. S. Just buy and civica has found this. Civica is still finding it has the core ingredients from china. New types of manufacturing, we an bring all of it back to the United States. Senator rubio and this is something that i hope well be do together. Part of these hearings and the report we did was to create wareness about these challenges. I wanted to ask you about that in a second, mr. Morrison. Briscoe, from the Small Business perspective so we view the Small Business sector a of e that we can see some the staff happen. Its easy to focus on the guys on the cover of a magazine, on he stock market on a daily basis, but theres a lot of potential capacity out there. Have done a good job to l business is vulnerable the supply Chain Disruption. Also, Small Businesses that can disruptions. Chain ms. Briscoe correct. Senator rubio finding a way fill. Business can right now we are focused on keeping people in business. Substantial number of small that cant afford to go seven to 10 days without operating. Kind of t have that cash reserve and things of this nature. Ms. Briscoe they basically would be the problem and the time. On at the same and thats what were looking to do. Senator rubio so what can we move forward on this first traunch of work which is aking available in the most appropriate way through Community Advantage and using leveraging the Community Banking is there and on easier nd, making loans to issue, what would be the best thing we can do for small usinesses to be able to access it quickly and stay afloat . Obviously we have to make them a paperworkand from standpoint and so forth, do you as to y practical advice how to make that . One is to pass a bill that another is for Small Businesses it may not be we do on on but what the ground what can we do on the ground level . A briscoe it should be stepbystep process that will be readily available for small owners, a guaranteed buyer. F they have a matchmaking process. If i know im making something and i know youre interested in simple ng, it should be as that. They will need infusion in scale upf they want to their production. Thats something we have to address as far as cash flow and workforce. Are two major things. Senator rubio it ties into one of the things weve been talking second step as the and that is, not only do you more capital available for companies to stay afloat but to the extent to ible, we want to try focus as much of that as possible, not just to small large but specific Critical Industries that could and are these gaps tied to all this which leads the question to you, mr. Morrison, challenges we e face now that the definition of a critical industry for the has to be broader than its historically been . Everyone agrees aircraft are ers and airplanes things we need to make. It takes a little while to making people that forklifts or pharmaceutical at an individual level may not mean anything to most people around this country have an e cumulative, enormous impact. Part of the challenge we have is identifying a much broader scope of what qualifies for a critical industry or critical supply need or country in the 21st century which is either we took for granted in the past or never had to address. Chairman, i mr. Think thats exactly right. Theres a reason we effectively race for 5g. E relied on the market and there are no Companies Left that do this work. The chinese had a plan. Of their the cusp 14th fiveyear plan. They have made in china 2025 and made in china 2035 is about to come out. They have determined the want to sectors they dominate in the future economy. And what they do in the domestic market is they boost up the price. They restrict the ability for outside companies, american and other companies to compete. Mattern they provide all of low interest loans to dominate. Our medium size businesses and entures are playing by one set of rules and the Chinese Companies are playing by another set of rules. In another realm of national ecurity we would call that unilateral disarmament. So thats the question to investigate. The s why i talked about build act. Thats why i talked about your amendment to the defense year. Ization act last using our market power, determine what industries are then taking steps to level the Playing Field. Businesses on a different Playing Field and tie them to different rules than the businesses. S its senator rubio i appreciate all of you being here today and your and nce on the hearing we the senate is voting now. Well have to head to that. Expertisebecause your and your ideas are aligned with a lot of the work were already doing. Good newe up with some ideas as well. The hearing record will stay hope for two weeks and any statements or questions for the submitted for e thursday, march 26, at 5 00 p. M. With that, the hearings adjourned. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2019] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] follow the federal response to the coronavirus at cspan. Org coronavirus. You can find white house briefings, hearings with key officials and interviews with Public Health specialists. Anytimehe latest events cspan. Org coronavirus. Alaska senator Lisa Murkowski giving small tour hours before restrictions. The u. S. Capitol will be closed to visitors today starting at 5 00 p. M. Eastern. Reopen expected to until april 1. Todd of c. Q. Roll all, the Supreme Court building will be closed to the today. At 4 30 p. M. Case filings are not extended. Were waiting for the house to on a so members can work coronavirus economic aid package. Well have live house coverage when they return here on cspan. Former n afterwards deputy advisor k. T. Mcfarland politicalght into the process and the Trump Administration in her latest book revolution trump, we the people. Shes interviewed by author danielle mclaughlin. Country. A dynamic socially, economically. We are constantly reinventing ourselves, not just as as a nation, and government, by its very nature, is sort of stuck. A status quo institution. This is how weve always done things. We will always do this thing things the same way again. Its people who then get stuck and its the status quo. Set up to have these revolutions. Political revolutions. Very one in the beginning. In the american revolution. Ever since then weve mostly had them the revolutions have played out in the ballot box. I think thats what were in the now. E of watch k. T. Mcfarland with her trump, volution washington, and we the people p. M. Eastern on book tv. Senatorsc