[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4581 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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118th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 4581
To require the Secretary of State, in coordination with the Secretary
of Health and Human Services, the Administrator of the United States
Agency for International Development, and such other heads of
departments and agencies as the Secretary of State considers
appropriate, to formulate a strategy for the Federal Government to
secure support from foreign countries, multilateral organizations, and
other appropriate entities to facilitate the development and
commercialization of qualified pandemic or epidemic products, and for
other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
June 18, 2024
Mr. Kelly (for himself and Mr. Cornyn) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require the Secretary of State, in coordination with the Secretary
of Health and Human Services, the Administrator of the United States
Agency for International Development, and such other heads of
departments and agencies as the Secretary of State considers
appropriate, to formulate a strategy for the Federal Government to
secure support from foreign countries, multilateral organizations, and
other appropriate entities to facilitate the development and
commercialization of qualified pandemic or epidemic products, and for
other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Saving Us from Pandemic Era
Resistance by Building a Unified Global Strategy Act of 2024'' or the
``SUPER BUGS Act of 2024''.
SEC. 2. INTERNATIONAL STRATEGY FOR DEVELOPMENT AND COMMERCIALIZATION OF
QUALIFIED PANDEMIC OR EPIDEMIC PRODUCTS.
(a) Strategy.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 540 days after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State, in
coordination with the Secretary of Health and Human Services,
the Administrator of the United States Agency for International
Development, and such other heads of departments and agencies
as the Secretary of State considers appropriate, shall--
(A) formulate a strategy for the Federal Government
to secure support from foreign countries, multilateral
organizations, and other appropriate entities to
facilitate the development and commercialization of
qualified pandemic or epidemic products, including such
products to address antimicrobial resistant pathogens--
(i) with pandemic potential; or
(ii) that are priority pathogens; and
(B) submit such strategy to the appropriate
committees of Congress.
(2) Contents.--The strategy required by paragraph (1)
shall--
(A) provide for processes the Federal Government is
using and would use to enter into arrangements with
foreign countries, multilateral organizations, and
other appropriate entities in certain circumstances to
implement the strategy;
(B) strive to ensure that the arrangements
described in subparagraph (A) promote equitable
contributions based on the budgets and technical
expertise of participating countries, organizations,
and other entities, as appropriate;
(C) focus the arrangements described in
subparagraph (A) on global priorities while enabling
participating countries, organizations, and other
entities to emphasize national or regional issues of
importance;
(D) seek to ensure new and existing arrangements
described in subparagraph (A) are harmonized with each
other and with other relevant existing or planned
efforts to amplify impact, address gaps, prevent
duplication of effort, and efficiently distribute
funds;
(E) provide for collaboration so that the
arrangements described in subparagraph (A)--
(i) allocate joint or individual
responsibility across participating countries,
organizations, and other entities for the
development and commercialization of particular
qualified pandemic or epidemic products; and
(ii) describe such collaboration;
(F) encourage the stewardship of qualified pandemic
or epidemic products developed pursuant to the
strategy;
(G) ensure that priority actions are identified in
the arrangements described in subparagraph (A) so that
scarce domestic and international funds are allocated
to develop and commercialize qualified pandemic or
epidemic products that can achieve the greatest
positive impact on human health, including
unprecedented approaches to preventing, treating, and
diagnosing infectious diseases;
(H) consider approaches including--
(i) securing development, production, and
distribution contracts with the private sector;
(ii) entering into public-private
partnerships;
(iii) implementing alternative payment
models;
(iv) creating coverage and reimbursement
pathways; and
(v) streamlining regulatory approval
processes; and
(I) align with pandemic preparedness and response
priorities of the United States, such as those
articulated in--
(i) the National Strategy for Combating
Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria (dated September
2014); and
(ii) the National Biodefense Strategy and
Implementation Plan (dated October 2022) and
the associated Action Plan (dated October
2022).
(b) Arrangements.--The Secretary of State, in consultation with the
Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Administrator of the United
States Agency for International Development, and such other heads of
departments and agencies as the Secretary of State considers
appropriate, shall seek to enter into arrangements with foreign
countries, multilateral organizations, and other appropriate entities
to implement the strategy required by subsection (a).
(c) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Appropriate committees of congress.--The term
``appropriate committees of Congress'' means--
(A) the Committee on Foreign Relations and the
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of
the Senate; and
(B) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the
Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of
Representatives.
(2) Priority pathogens.--The term ``priority pathogens''
means pathogens identified in--
(A) the latest ``Antibiotic Resistance Threats
Report'' of the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (or any successor report); or
(B) the latest global priority pathogens list or
fungal priority pathogens list of the World Health
Organization (or any successor list).
(3) Qualified pandemic or epidemic product.--The term
``qualified pandemic or epidemic product'' has the meaning
given that term in section 319F-3(i) of the Public Health
Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247d-6d(i)).
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