S. 5587: National Critical Minerals Council Act

This bill would create a new National Critical Minerals Council within the Executive Office of the President to help the federal government coordinate a national strategy for critical minerals and materials. These are materials the United States considers important for energy, the economy, and national defense.

What the council would do

The council would be made up of representatives from many federal agencies, including the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Energy, the Interior, Labor, State, and Treasury, along with several White House and federal economic, security, trade, and finance offices.

The council would be led by three co-chairs: the Secretary of the Interior (or a designee), the National Security Advisor (or a designee), and the Director of the National Economic Council (or a designee).

The bill would require the co-chairs to designate a Chief Minerals Advisor within 180 days. That advisor would run the council’s day-to-day work, hire staff, serve as the main staff director, and report to the co-chairs.

Main purposes

The council’s job would be to help develop and coordinate a national strategy for securing critical minerals and materials. The bill says the strategy should aim to:

• reduce reliance on foreign adversaries for these materials;
• support domestic mining and processing capacity;
• make supply chains less vulnerable to disruptions; and
• coordinate federal efforts across agencies that deal with mining, trade, defense, energy, finance, and other related issues.

Specific responsibilities

The council would be asked to:

• coordinate interagency policy guidance on critical minerals and materials;
• help align federal budget requests with the national strategy;
• identify overlapping or conflicting federal policies and suggest ways to harmonize them;
• track investments by China and other foreign entities of concern in mining and critical mineral projects around the world;
• help promote the United States as a partner for critical mineral projects, including with allied and partner countries;
• track agreements with allied nations involving financing, workforce, and innovation;
• support environmentally responsible domestic production of critical minerals and materials;
• consider how federal decisions could affect the supply of these materials;
• consult with universities, national labs, private industry, nonprofits, Tribal Nations, and investors;
• coordinate research, development, investment, and commercialization priorities across federal agencies;
• create a central platform where private entities can see funding opportunities;
• maintain a public, digitized dashboard showing projects and related data across agencies; and
• coordinate education and workforce development in mining and related fields.

Reports to Congress

Within one year after enactment, the advisor would have to submit a report to relevant congressional committees describing:

• how the council is structured and how it works;
• a national critical mineral and material strategy; and
• an implementation plan with benchmarks for measuring progress.

One year after that report, and then every year after, the advisor would have to brief Congress on progress and any updates to the strategy.

Relevant Companies

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