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Creates an intergovernmental Critical Minerals Task Force to assess U.S. reliance on foreign sources of critical minerals, coordinate federal, Tribal, state, local, and territorial actions, and recommend steps to secure and onshore supply chains. Requires the task force to report regularly to Congress and directs the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to study the federal and state regulatory landscape for domestic critical-mineral supply chains.
Current supply chains of critical minerals pose a great risk to the national security of the United States.
Critical minerals are necessary for transportation, technology, renewable energy, military equipment and machinery, and other relevant sectors crucial for the homeland and national security of the United States.
In 2022, the United States was 100 percent import reliant for 12 out of 50 critical minerals and more than 50 percent import reliant for an additional 31 critical mineral commodities as classified by the United States Geological Survey; the People’s Republic of China was the top producing nation for 30 of those 50 critical minerals.
As of July 2023, companies based in the People’s Republic of China that extract critical minerals around the world have received hundreds of charges of human rights violations.
On August 29, 2014, the World Trade Organization Dispute Settlement Body adopted findings that the export restraints by the People’s Republic of China on rare earth metals violated obligations under the GATT 1994 and China’s WTO accession protocol, and that those restraints harmed manufacturers and workers in the United States.
Primary impacts will be on federal agencies (which must participate, share data, and implement coordination), state and Tribal governments (asked to coordinate and potentially adopt or respond to recommendations), and private-sector actors in mining, processing, manufacturing, and defense (whose supply chains will be assessed and who may be affected by subsequent policy changes). The GAO study could lead to recommendations for regulatory reform that affect permitting, environmental reviews, and state–federal processes for domestic mineral development. Defense, renewable energy, advanced technology, and critical manufacturing sectors may benefit from policies to reduce foreign dependence but could face new domestic regulatory or permitting attention if policymakers act on the task force/GAO findings. The bill itself is mainly investigative and coordinative: immediate effects are informational and organizational; substantive policy or funding changes would follow later if Congress or agencies adopt the recommendations.
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Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources.
Introduced May 5, 2025 by Jay Obernolte · Last progress May 5, 2025
Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources.
Introduced in House