ICYMI: Katko Leads Effort to Protect Critical U.S. Supply Chains

WASHINGTON, DC – Rep. John Katko (R-NY), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Homeland Security, continues leading efforts to address vulnerabilities in our domestic critical supply chains. The Domains Critical to Homeland Security Act (H.R. 3264), which was overwhelmingly passed by the Committee on Homeland Security last week, will secure and mitigate risk to U.S. critical economic domains to ensure the long-term economic security of the U.S., particularly as adversarial nations seek to exploit these vulnerabilities for their own strategic gain.

These domains are elements of the economy that are critical to the operation and growth of the U.S. Each of these domains represents a category that is essential for the economy to function and range in scope from medical equipment to semiconductors to intellectual property protections.

As became evident during the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. adversaries such as China can leverage vulnerable U.S. supply chains to their advantage and further their own geopolitical goals. Critically important medical commodities were unavailable for months during the COVID-19 pandemic as domestic suppliers lacked the necessary manufacturing capabilities and access to global supply.

The Domains Critical to Homeland Security Act would address these issues by:

• Requiring DHS to analyze the risk of each identified critical domain for economic security and determine whether there exists a present or future threat to homeland security in the event of disruption, corruption, or dysfunction to such domain.

• Requiring the Secretary of Homeland Security to produce an annual report on the risk analysis conducted, including the vulnerability of critical supply chains, foreign manufacturing, foreign economic influence, asset ownership, and supply chain relationships.

This Katko-led initiative has strong bipartisan support from Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-MS) and Reps. Peter Meijer (R-MI), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), Kat Cammack (R-FL), August Pfluger (R-TX), Diana Harshbarger (R-TN), Carlos Gimenez (R-FL), and Andrew Garbarino (R-NY).

Click here to view the text of the bill.