II
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 2031
To strengthen the national security of the United States by decreasing the
reliance of the Department of Defense on critical minerals from the
People’s Republic of China, the Russian Federation, the Islamic Republic
of Iran, the Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea, and other
geostrategic competitors and adversaries of the United States, and for
other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JUNE15, 2023
Mr. R
OMNEY(for himself, Mr. SULLIVAN, and Mr. PETERS) introduced the
following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on
Armed Services
A BILL
To strengthen the national security of the United States
by decreasing the reliance of the Department of Defense
on critical minerals from the People’s Republic of China,
the Russian Federation, the Islamic Republic of Iran,
the Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea, and
other geostrategic competitors and adversaries of the
United States, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Critical Mineral Inde-2
pendence Act of 2023’’. 3
SEC. 2. STRATEGY TO ACHIEVE CRITICAL MINERAL SUPPLY 4
CHAIN INDEPENDENCE FOR THE DEPART-5
MENT OF DEFENSE. 6
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than one year after the 7
date of the enactment of this Act, the Under Secretary 8
of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment shall submit 9
to the appropriate committees of Congress a strategy to 10
develop supply chains for the Department of Defense that 11
are not dependent on mining or processing of critical min-12
erals in or by covered countries, in order to achieve critical 13
mineral supply chain independence from covered countries 14
for the Department by 2035. 15
(b) E
LEMENTS.—The strategy required by subsection 16
(a) shall— 17
(1) identify and assess significant vulnerabilities 18
in the supply chains of contractors and subcontrac-19
tors of the Department of Defense involving critical 20
minerals that are mined or processed in or by cov-21
ered countries; 22
(2) identify and recommend changes to the ac-23
quisition laws, regulations, and policies of the De-24
partment of Defense to ensure contractors and sub-25
contractors of the Department use supply chains in-26
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volving critical minerals that are not mined or proc-1
essed in or by covered countries to the greatest ex-2
tent practicable; 3
(3) evaluate the utility and desirability of using 4
authorities provided by the Defense Production Act 5
of 1950 (50 U.S.C. 4501 et seq.) to expand supply 6
chains and processing capacity for critical minerals 7
in the United States; 8
(4) evaluate the utility and desirability of ex-9
panding authorities provided by the Defense Produc-10
tion Act of 1950 to be used to expand supply chains 11
and processing capacity for critical minerals by 12
countries that are allies or partners of the United 13
States; 14
(5) evaluate the utility and desirability of 15
leveraging the process for acquiring shortfall mate-16
rials for the National Defense Stockpile under the 17
Strategic and Critical Materials Stock Piling Act (50 18
U.S.C. 98 et seq.) to expand supply chains and proc-19
essing capacity for critical minerals in the United 20
States and in countries that are allies or partners of 21
the United States; 22
(6) identify areas of potential engagement and 23
partnership with the governments of countries that 24
are allies or partners of the United States to jointly 25
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reduce dependence on critical minerals mined or 1
processed in or by covered countries; 2
(7) identify and recommend other policy 3
changes that may be needed to achieve critical min-4
eral supply chain independence from covered coun-5
tries for the Department; 6
(8) identify and recommend measures to 7
streamline authorities and policies with respect to 8
critical minerals and supply chains for critical min-9
erals; and 10
(9) prioritize the recommendations made in the 11
strategy to achieve critical mineral supply chain 12
independence from covered countries for the Depart-13
ment, taking into consideration economic costs and 14
varying degrees of vulnerability posed to the national 15
security of the United States by reliance on different 16
types of critical minerals. 17
(c) F
ORM OFSTRATEGY.—The strategy required by 18
subsection (a) shall be submitted in classified form but 19
shall include an unclassified summary. 20
(d) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 21
(1) A
PPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CON -22
GRESS.—The term ‘‘appropriate committees of Con-23
gress’’ means— 24
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(A) the Committee on Armed Services of 1
the Senate; and 2
(B) the Committee on Armed Services of 3
the House of Representatives. 4
(2) C
OVERED COUNTRY .—The term ‘‘covered 5
country’’ means— 6
(A) a covered nation, as defined in section 7
4872, title 10, United States Code; and 8
(B) any other country determined by the 9
Secretary of Defense to be a geostrategic com-10
petitor or adversary of the United States for 11
purposes of this Act. 12
(3) C
RITICAL MINERAL.—The term ‘‘critical 13
mineral’’ means a critical mineral (as defined in sec-14
tion 7002(a) of the Energy Act of 2020 (30 U.S.C. 15
1606(a))) that the Secretary of Defense determines 16
to be important to the national security of the 17
United States for purposes of this Act. 18
(4) S
HORTFALL MATERIAL .—The term ‘‘short-19
fall material’’ means materials determined to be in 20
shortfall in the most recent report on stockpile re-21
quirements submitted to Congress under subsection 22
(a) of section 14 of the Strategic and Critical Mate-23
rials Stock Piling Act (50 U.S.C. 98h–5) and in-24
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cluded in the most recent briefing required by sub-1
section (f) of that section. 2
Æ
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