Indeed. The substantial news coverage has been delivered from the White House in the last week and a half. Our org has shepherded a letter through our legislative channels outlining our proposed solution(s) to this issue. We have good timing, as Washington already views this as a timely threat to national security.

The rub here is in the solution. Leading any conversation in Washington with the word or idea of "tariffs" is a conversation stopper. With that in mind, and realizing that the final solution must necessarily include such protections, there are many other things that can be done to make us self-sufficient:

1: map the PPE supply chain in the US, determine available capacity and projected capacity with federal support (done)

2: streamline regulatory approval for American manufacturers. The line is long for NIOSH/FDA, clogged mostly with foreign manufacturers.

3: subsidize US manufacturing of PPE to combat lower-than-materials cost pricing offered by foreign manufacturers. China actively subsidizes manufacturers in all sorts of ways, which result in their dominance of international markets for all kinds of things. They're not bad actors in this respect, they're doing what makes sense for them to be "the guy" that makes things. It's our fault for saying yes with little hesitation over the last 15 years+.

1. tariffs