The National Cotton Council is keeping a close eye on the infrastructure package in the House.
The package includes measures to strengthen supply chains, including Personal Protection Equipment or PPE. The provision would require PPE products like face masks and medical gowns to be produced in the U.S., with U.S. grown cotton.
It will benefit the U.S. cotton industry, from producers to textile manufacturers.
“So what these provisions would do, if enacted, is to require that PPE products such as face masks, medical gowns, and other medical textile products-- among other items that are needed in a pandemic-- that those have to be produced in the U.S. with U.S. content,” according to Reece Langley, the council’s Washington Operations VP.
The measure would also require buyers to enter into a two year contract with manufacturers.
The NCC says that it ensures the U.S. does not have to rely on other countries for PPE, like we did at the start of the pandemic.