II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 596
To establish a pilot program to support domestic critical material processing,
and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
FEBRUARY13, 2025
Mr. H
ICKENLOOPER(for himself, Mr. GRAHAM, Mr. COONS, and Mr. YOUNG)
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
A BILL
To establish a pilot program to support domestic critical
material processing, 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
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Critical Materials Fu-4
ture Act of 2025’’. 5
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6
In this Act: 7
(1) C
OUNTRY OF RISK.—The term ‘‘country of 8
risk’’ has the meaning given the term in section 9
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10114(a) of the Research and Development, Com-1
petition, and Innovation Act (42 U.S.C. 18912(a)). 2
(2) C
RITICAL MATERIAL.—The term ‘‘critical 3
material’’ has the meaning given the term in section 4
7002(a) of the Energy Act of 2020 (30 U.S.C. 5
1606(a)). 6
(3) D
OMESTIC.—The term ‘‘domestic’’ means 7
facilities operating within the United States or with-8
in any territory or possession of the United States. 9
(4) E
LIGIBLE PROJECT.—The term ‘‘eligible 10
project’’ means a project that refines and processes 11
or recycles raw critical materials into purified forms 12
suitable for first-use applications. 13
(5) E
NTITY OF CONCERN.— 14
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The term ‘‘entity of 15
concern’’ has the meaning given the term in 16
section 10114(a) of the Research and Develop-17
ment, Competition, and Innovation Act (42 18
U.S.C. 18912(a)); and 19
(B) I
NCLUSION.—The term ‘‘entity of con-20
cern’’ includes an entity that the Secretary has 21
determined, using a risk-based approach, is 22
subject to the control or influence of a foreign 23
nation whose strategic interests concerning crit-24
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ical materials does not align with the strategic 1
interests of the United States. 2
(6) I
NNOVATIVE FINANCIAL TOOLS .—The term 3
‘‘innovative financial tools’’ means financial instru-4
ments to support demand-side economic mecha-5
nisms, including— 6
(A) pricing support mechanisms, such as 7
contracts for difference and price floors, ad-8
vanced market commitments, and forward con-9
tracts; and 10
(B) other transactions that the Secretary 11
may enter into under section 646 of the De-12
partment of Energy Organization Act (42 13
U.S.C. 7256). 14
(7) P
ILOT PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘Pilot Pro-15
gram’’ means the Domestic Critical Material Proc-16
essing Pilot Program established under section 4(a). 17
(8) R
ELIABLE SOURCES.— 18
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The term ‘‘reliable 19
source’’ has the meaning given the term in sec-20
tion 12 of the Strategic and Critical Materials 21
Stock Piling Act (50 U.S.C. 98h–3). 22
(B) I
NCLUSIONS.—The term ‘‘reliable 23
source’’ includes facilities owned by, controlled 24
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by, or subject to the jurisdiction of any coun-1
try— 2
(i) with which the United States has 3
a free trade agreement in effect; and 4
(ii) designated a major non-NATO 5
ally under section 517 of the Foreign As-6
sistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2321k). 7
(9) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 8
the Secretary of Energy. 9
SEC. 3. PURPOSES. 10
The purposes of this Act are— 11
(1) to support domestic critical material proc-12
essing with innovative financial tools to reduce sup-13
ply chain vulnerabilities and enhance energy and na-14
tional security; and 15
(2) to evaluate the effectiveness of innovative fi-16
nancial tools in supporting investment in and ex-17
panding domestic critical materials processing, in-18
cluding the impact of different support mechanisms 19
on project development for various critical materials 20
and fostering more liquid, transparent, and predict-21
able markets for critical materials. 22
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SEC. 4. DOMESTIC CRITICAL MATERIAL PROCESSING 1
PILOT PROGRAM. 2
(a) E
STABLISHMENT.—Not later than 180 days after 3
the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall es-4
tablish a pilot program, to be known as the ‘‘Domestic 5
Critical Material Processing Pilot Program’’, to support 6
not fewer than 3 domestic critical material processing 7
projects. 8
(b) O
BJECTIVES.—The objectives of the Pilot Pro-9
gram are— 10
(1) to provide financial stability and attract pri-11
vate investment in eligible domestic critical material 12
processing projects; 13
(2) to analyze how different financial tools in-14
fluence critical material market dynamics and 15
projects and the estimated level of financial support 16
needed to secure reliable United States supply 17
chains for various critical materials and support a 18
sufficient domestic critical materials processing in-19
dustry; and 20
(3) to reduce supply chain vulnerabilities and 21
enhance energy security and national security. 22
(c) R
EQUIREMENTS.— 23
(1) I
MPLEMENTATION.— 24
(A) R
EGULATIONS.—Not later than 180 25
days after the date of enactment of this Act, 26
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the Secretary shall issue regulations to imple-1
ment the Pilot Program. 2
(B) O
THER TRANSACTION AUTHORITY .—In 3
carrying out the Pilot Program, the Secretary 4
shall have the authority to enter into other 5
transactions in the same manner and subject to 6
the same terms and conditions as transactions 7
that the Secretary may enter into under section 8
646 of the Department of Energy Organization 9
Act (42 U.S.C. 7256). 10
(C) F
LEXIBLE HIRING AUTHORITY .—The 11
Secretary may appoint and fix the compensa-12
tion of such temporary personnel as may be 13
necessary to carry out and implement the Pilot 14
Program, without regard to the provisions of 15
subchapter I of chapter 33 of title 5, United 16
States Code, governing appointments in com-17
petitive service and compensation of personnel. 18
(D) C
ONSULTATION.—The Secretary shall 19
consult outside stakeholders and experts, in-20
cluding mining and critical material processing 21
industry representatives, financial experts, and 22
academic researchers, during development of 23
the Pilot Program for purposes of improving 24
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the effectiveness and efficiency of the Pilot Pro-1
gram. 2
(2) D
IVERSITY.— 3
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Subject to subpara-4
graph (B), the Pilot Program shall provide sup-5
port for the processing of not fewer than 3 dif-6
ferent critical materials in order to gain insight 7
into the impact of innovative financial tools on 8
different critical material markets. 9
(B) L
IMITATION.—Support provided under 10
subparagraph (A) to a single critical material 11
shall not exceed 50 percent of any funding pro-12
vided to the Pilot Program under subsection 13
(h). 14
(3) S
UNSET.—The Pilot Program shall termi-15
nate on the date that is not later than 5 years after 16
the date the Pilot Program is established under sub-17
section (a). 18
(d) A
PPLICATIONS.— 19
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Applications under the Pilot 20
Program for eligible projects shall be submitted to 21
the Secretary at such time, in such manner, and 22
containing such information as the Secretary may 23
require. 24
(2) E
LIGIBILITY CRITERIA.— 25
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(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall re-1
view and select applications under the Pilot 2
Program for eligible projects based on— 3
(i) the potential of the eligible project 4
to enhance the economic, energy, and na-5
tional security of the United States; 6
(ii) the economic competitiveness of 7
the eligible project; 8
(iii) the economic and financial sus-9
tainability of the eligible project, using in-10
formation such as— 11
(I) the potential for the applicant 12
of the eligible project to secure an 13
offtake agreement if the eligible 14
project is selected; and 15
(II) an analysis of the estimated 16
production costs of the eligible project 17
and prevailing or anticipated market 18
prices; 19
(iv) the potential of the eligible project 20
to mitigate risks associated with importing 21
critical materials from entities of concern; 22
(v) the prioritization requirements de-23
scribed in subparagraph (B); and 24
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(vi) other factors, as determined by 1
the Secretary, in coordination with the 2
agencies described in subsection (e). 3
(B) P
RIORITY.—In selecting applications 4
under the Pilot Program for eligible projects, 5
the Secretary shall prioritize eligible projects— 6
(i) that use feedstock from domestic 7
or reliable sources, with higher priority 8
given to eligible projects that have greater 9
use of feedstock from domestic sources; 10
(ii) the selection of which would sup-11
port the ability of the applicant to secure 12
an offtake agreement with domestic or reli-13
able sources; and 14
(iii) that are the most economically 15
competitive, as determined by the Sec-16
retary, based on factors including— 17
(I) the potential for the applicant 18
of the eligible project to secure an 19
offtake agreement if selected; and 20
(II) the difference between the 21
estimated production costs of the eli-22
gible project and prevailing or antici-23
pated market prices. 24
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(3) TIMELINE.—The Secretary shall select ap-1
plications under the Pilot Program for eligible 2
projects not later than 1 year after the date of en-3
actment of this Act. 4
(e) C
OORDINATION.— 5
(1) I
N GENERAL.—To ensure the efficient im-6
plementation and operation of the Pilot Program, 7
the Secretary shall coordinate with— 8
(A) the Secretary of Commerce; 9
(B) the Secretary of Defense; 10
(C) the Secretary of the Interior; 11
(D) the Secretary of State; 12
(E) the Director of the United States Geo-13
logical Survey; 14
(F) the United States Trade Representa-15
tive; and 16
(G) the heads of other Federal depart-17
ments and agencies, as determined by the Sec-18
retary. 19
(2) S
ECURITY RESEARCH AND DEVELOP -20
MENT.—When selecting applications and deter-21
mining the level of financial support for each project 22
under the Pilot Program, the Secretary shall coordi-23
nate with the Secretary of Defense to incorporate in-24
sights from the Open Price Exploration for National 25
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Security research and development program of the 1
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. 2
(f) S
TUDY.— 3
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after 4
the date on which the Pilot Program terminates 5
under subsection (c)(3), the Secretary shall conduct 6
and publish a study on— 7
(A) the impact of innovative financial tools 8
on the critical materials sector and the relative 9
cost-effectiveness of those tools in supporting 10
domestic critical materials processing projects 11
and developing more liquid, transparent, and 12
predictable markets for critical materials; 13
(B) the estimated level of financial support 14
needed to secure reliable United States supply 15
chains for various critical materials and support 16
a sufficient domestic critical materials proc-17
essing industry; 18
(C) the potential of critical material recy-19
cling to support the domestic critical materials 20
market; 21
(D) the effectiveness of the Pilot Program, 22
including an evaluation of each eligible project 23
supported by the Pilot Program; and 24
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(E) whether the models of the Open Price 1
Exploration for National Security research and 2
development program of the Defense Advanced 3
Research Projects Agency allowed the Pilot 4
Program to better anticipate market trends, op-5
timize resource allocation, and provide the ap-6
propriate level of support based on current and 7
future critical material market needs. 8
(2) I
NSIGHTS.—The study under paragraph (1) 9
shall include insights into concerns of private inves-10
tors in different critical material markets and the 11
impact of innovative financial tools on catalyzing 12
final investment decisions. 13
(3) S
TAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT .—The study 14
under paragraph (1) shall be carried out in consulta-15
tion with relevant stakeholders, as determined by the 16
Secretary, including mining and critical material 17
processing industry representatives, financial ex-18
perts, local governments hosting critical material 19
processing projects, and academic researchers. 20
(4) DARPA
OPEN PROGRAM.—The Secretary 21
shall share the results of the study under paragraph 22
(1) with the Open Price Exploration for National 23
Security research and development program of the 24
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to in-25
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form ongoing research and development of tools to 1
support transparency in domestic critical materials 2
markets. 3
(g) R
EPORT.— 4
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary shall submit 5
to the Committees on Energy and Natural Re-6
sources, Foreign Relations, and Armed Services of 7
the Senate, and the Committees on Natural Re-8
sources, Energy and Commerce, and Armed Services 9
of the House of Representatives, an annual report 10
for each year that the Pilot Program is carried out. 11
(2) C
ONTENTS.—The report under paragraph 12
(1) shall include— 13
(A) activities, expenditures, and outcomes 14
of the Pilot Program; 15
(B) recommendations to Congress on the 16
continuation or expansion of the Pilot Program; 17
and 18
(C) recommendations for how the Federal 19
Government should use innovative financial 20
tools— 21
(i) to increase domestic critical mate-22
rials processing capacity; 23
(ii) to strengthen domestic critical 24
material supply chains by increasing 25
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United States processing capacity using 1
domestic feedstock; 2
(iii) to mitigate market volatility; 3
(iv) to boost price transparency in 4
critical materials markets; 5
(v) to leverage market indices in coun-6
tries other than those designated as coun-7
tries of risk; 8
(vi) to ensure long-term adequate sup-9
plies of critical materials for the economy 10
of the United States; and 11
(vii) to increase the domestic recycling 12
of critical materials. 13
(h) F
UNDING.— 14
(1) F
INANCIAL MECHANISMS .— 15
(A) I
N GENERAL.—In establishing and car-16
rying out the Pilot Program, the Secretary shall 17
enter into agreements, including contracts, 18
grants, and cooperative agreements, and other 19
transactions, as determined by the Secretary, to 20
enable the use of innovative financial tools to 21
support domestic critical material processing 22
projects. 23
(B) A
UTHORITY.—In carrying out sub-24
paragraph (A), the Secretary may use innova-25
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tive financial tools, including price support such 1
as contracts for differences, and leverage func-2
tions to develop and drive critical materials 3
processing to entities that are not entities of 4
concern, under such terms and conditions as 5
the Secretary determines to be necessary or ap-6
propriate. 7
(2) R
EINVESTMENT OF REVENUE .— 8
(A) E
STABLISHMENT.—There is estab-9
lished in the Treasury of the United States a 10
fund, to be known as the ‘‘Critical Materials 11
Revolving Fund’’ (referred to in this paragraph 12
as the ‘‘Fund’’). 13
(B) P
URPOSES.—The Fund shall be avail-14
able to the Secretary as a revolving fund— 15
(i) to reinvest amounts generated 16
from eligible projects into new critical ma-17
terials processing projects under the Pilot 18
Program; and 19
(ii) to further enhance the objectives 20
of the Pilot Program. 21
(3) A
UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS .— 22
There is authorized to be appropriated to the Sec-23
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retary to carry out this Act $750,000,000, to remain 1
available until expended. 2
Æ
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