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Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) praised the Trump Administration’s forthcoming Executive Order that will enforce Buy American Act requirements for pharmaceuticals and medical supplies. Restoring Buy American Act preferences for pharmaceuticals is a part of Rubio’s coronavirus plan released last month. On Thursday, March 12, 2020, Rubio, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, will convene a hearing titled, “The Coronavirus and America’s Small Business Supply Chain.”
 
“The coronavirus outbreak has been a wake-up call that we must combat America’s supply chain vulnerabilities and dependence on China in critical sectors of our economy,” Rubio said. “The Trump Administration’s forthcoming Executive Order is a very strong first step toward increasing domestic production by enforcing Buy American requirements for pharmaceuticals and medical supplies, as well as fast-tracking FDA approval of critical products impacted by the coronavirus outbreak’s strain on the supply chain.”
 
Last year, Rubio wrote in Modern Healthcare that “[w]hen it comes to the threat China poses to the U.S. healthcare industry, we cannot afford to be complacent.” Rubio released a report last February detailing critical vulnerabilities in America’s medical supply chain, warning, “the U.S. runs the risk of losing important components of its medical supply chain to China’s government-backed industry.”
 
A timeline of Rubio’s actions related to coronavirus can be found here.