H.R. 10395: Critical Materials Future Act of 2025

This bill would create a Department of Energy pilot program to support domestic processing of critical materials—materials needed for things like energy technologies, manufacturing, and defense supply chains. The program would be set up within 180 days of enactment and would run for up to 5 years.

What the program would do

The Secretary of Energy would be required to support at least three domestic critical material processing projects. These projects would have to involve refining, processing, or recycling raw critical materials into forms that can be used in products.

The bill is focused on using innovative financial tools to help these projects get built and operate. Those tools could include:

• price support mechanisms, such as contracts for difference and price floors
• advanced market commitments
• forward contracts
• other transaction agreements that the Department of Energy can already use in certain cases

How projects would be chosen

Companies or other applicants would submit applications to the Secretary of Energy. The Secretary would select projects based on factors such as:

• how much they could improve U.S. economic, energy, and national security
• whether they are economically competitive
• whether they appear financially sustainable
• whether they can secure an offtake agreement (a contract to buy the output)
• estimated production costs compared with expected market prices
• how much they reduce reliance on imports from entities of concern

The bill gives priority to projects that use feedstock from domestic or “reliable” sources, with higher priority for projects using more domestic feedstock. It also favors projects that are most economically competitive and those that can support domestic or reliable-source offtake agreements.

Other program rules

The program would have to support processing of at least three different critical materials, and no single material could receive more than 50% of the program’s funding.

The Secretary of Energy would need to issue regulations within 180 days, could hire temporary staff more flexibly, and would consult with industry, financial experts, and researchers while designing the program. The Secretary would also coordinate with several federal agencies, including Commerce, Defense, Interior, State, the U.S. Geological Survey, and the U.S. Trade Representative.

Study and reporting requirements

After the pilot program ends, the Department of Energy would have to publish a study on:

• how effective the financial tools were
• how much support was needed to strengthen U.S. supply chains
• whether recycling could help the domestic market
• whether the projects were successful
• whether DARPA’s Open Price Exploration for National Security work helped predict market trends and allocate resources better

The Secretary would also submit annual reports to Congress during the life of the program describing activities, spending, outcomes, and recommendations for whether to continue or expand the program.

Funding

The bill would authorize $750 million to carry out the program, available until spent. It would also create a Critical Materials Revolving Fund in the Treasury. Money generated by supported projects could be reinvested into new projects under the pilot program.

Relevant Companies

None found