Chairman Carter Delivers Opening Statement at Health Hearing on Our Health Care Supply Chain

Welcome everyone. Today's hearing is critical in addressing our nation's reliance on adversarial countries for essential medications and healthcare products. This dependence not only jeopardizes our national security and patient safety, but also highlights the urgent need to increase domestic infringe or manufacturing. Let me be clear, the United States should never be dependent on the Chinese Communist Party for the antibiotics, the essential medicines. But that's exactly the dangerous position we are in. today. In 2002, the United States manufactured 72% of the pharmaceuticals it consumed. By 2023, that number had dropped to just 37.5%. We didn't just outsource manufacturing. We outsource the sovereignty and safety of our healthcare system. We saw the impacts of this reliance firsthand during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a conversation I had with the administrator for strategic preparedness and response are asper under the Trump administration, the United States saw a downtick in the amount of PPE and pharmaceuticals coming to our country from China in the fall of 2019. In the fall of 2019. We didn't learn about the COVID until January of 2020. They knew what was going on. They started hoarding this stuff and not meaning it to us. China knew there was an unidentified sickness in its own country. They concealed it, and then they withheld medical supplies to the United States was less prepared when COVID-19 hit our shores. As both a pharmacist and a member of Congress. I know how critical these medicines and supplies are, especially for our national security. Under the Biden Harris administration over 323 drugs were in shortage during the 1st quarter of 2024. An all-time high. In cancer patients, often we're often forced to switch treatments, adjust dosage regimens are in extreme cases, unable to receive their life saving medications. There were no comprehensive effort to support American manufacturers or reduce our reliance on foreign supply chains. That is simply unacceptable. Thankfully, President Trump is taking meaningful action by demanding real investment in our domestic production base and putting an end to decades of failed America last policies that left our supply chains hollowed out and put our patients constituents and families at risk. Under the leadership of President Trump, we are bringing manufacturing back to America. America. Since the start of this year, the start of President Trump's 2nd term. Johnson and Johnson broke ground on a new $2 billion facility in North Carolina. Amgen announced a 900 billion $900 million manufacturing expansion in Ohio. Ay committed $10 billion to invest in the United States and Sanofi announced plans to invest at least $20 billion. And these are just a few examples. This is just the start. I look forward to hearing from my other colleagues. about the recent investments in their districts and states during, during this hearing today and I'm thrilled to see what additional investments continue to flow and thrive under administration focused on unleashing innovation and bringing capacities back home. Along those lines, I commend recent efforts by this administration to bolster domestic production, but we must do our part in Congress as well. This hearing will make it clear that more can be done to eliminate burdensome regulatory barriers, streamline processes that impede our competitiveness on the global stage and establish the proper incentives to ensure we are creating the environment to allow innovation to flourish. It's no coincidence that Georgia, my home state, the number one state in the nation to do business, is home to Manus Bioo, which has invested nearly $60 million and created over 100 jobs with the acquisition of the new manufacturing facility in Augusta. We need more, more policies at the federal level that mirror the pro growth examples we have in the state of Georgia. That's why House Republicans passed one big beautiful bill act, which incentivizes domestic. supply production by rewarding companies that build their products in America like US antibiotics, who is the last remaining end to end domestic US manufacturer of amoxicillin, the most prescribed antibiotic in the country. This is about protecting American lives, empowering American workers, restoring American sovereignty and reinforcing US leadership and medical innovation. China is not our friend. Ladies and gentlemen, China is not our friend. Every product component that, that, that, that then turns into a vial of medicine or a piece of medical equipment that is made in China is a missed opportunity to strengthen our economy and protect our people. It's time to act. We need to view pharmaceutical and healthcare supply chain independence just as we are viewing energy independence. I'm proud to stand with President Trump and all those committed to putting America first in our health care system, starting with the medicines we rely on every day