Critical Infrastructure Manufacturing Feasibility Act

The Critical Infrastructure Manufacturing Feasibility Act would require the Secretary of Commerce to oversee a focused, one-year study to assess whether certain products used in the United States’ critical infrastructure could be manufactured domestically. For each critical infrastructure sector, the study would identify high-demand imported products caused by manufacturing, material, or supply-chain constraints; analyze the costs and benefits of onshoring production (including effects on jobs and product cost); determine which products could feasibly be manufactured in the United States; and evaluate the feasibility and any impediments to manufacturing those products in rural areas or in industrial parks (including rural industrial parks). The Secretary would then submit a comprehensive report to Congress within 18 months, with recommendations and a public version posted on the Department of Commerce website. The act also clarifies that it does not grant the Secretary power to compel private information, and defines “critical infrastructure sector” by reference to the 16 sectors identified in Presidential Policy Directive 21 (PPD-21) from 2013.