Senator Doug Jones Introduces Bill to Bring Health Care Manufacturing Jobs to America

by Staff
0 comment

“We can bring countless jobs back, breathe life into shuttered factories, and ensure that our communities have the crucial COVID-19 tests, masks, ventilators, and other supplies they need to protect themselves from this disease.” –Senator Jones

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Doug Jones (D-Ala.), a member of both the Senate Health and Banking Committees, today introduced legislation to encourage businesses to build medical equipment in America. In recent weeks, Senator Jones has advocated jumpstarting this new sector within Alabama’s economy by incentivizing the reopening of idle factories and putting them to use producing critical health supplies.

“The coronavirus pandemic has caused millions of Americans to lose their jobs and has created a national health care crisis. It has also shined a spotlight on how dependent the United States is on other countries for the health care supplies that we need to fight this virus and to keep Americans safe,” Senator Jones said. “By incentivizing companies to build medical equipment here at home, we can bring countless jobs back, breathe life into shuttered factories, and ensure that our communities have the crucial COVID-19 tests, masks, ventilators, and other supplies they need to protect themselves from this disease.”

The Build Health Care Equipment in America Act would do the following:

  • Create tax deductions for businesses to re-purpose existing facilities or to build new ones to manufacture medical supplies;
  • Provide tax credits for employers who hire workers from declining fields;
  • Increase education tax benefits for health care workers in short supply fields;
  • Create grants to communities to improve broadband access around facilities to be used as health care manufacturing sites.

In April, Senator Jones encouraged Alabama Governor Kay Ivey to establish a health care manufacturing task force to explore ways for Alabama to move to the forefront of health care manufacturing for the United States.

A full summary of the bill can be found here.

Media Release/Office of Alabama Senator Doug Jones 

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Related Posts