H.R. 4350 — Unearth America’s Future Act

This section states the sense of Congress that the Secretary of Commerce, in consultation with the Secretary of State, should carry out the actions and collaborations authorized by this title in a manner that (1) strengthens the security and resiliency of the critical material supply chain for U.S. national, energy, and economic security by prioritizing expanded domestic capabilities and expanding foreign capabilities to support them; (2) promotes innovative technologies, materials, and techniques to create secure supply chains while preventing environmental degradation; (3) supports industrial decarbonization throughout the supply chain; (4) defends worker rights through strong workplace protections, including neutrality agreements, and removes human rights violations; (5) supports community engagement and consultation to prevent disenfranchisement and environmental injustices; and (6) grows the economic strength and bolsters the leadership of the U.S. manufacturing sector, including its workforce.

This section establishes a National Center for Secure and Transparent Critical Material Supply Chains (referred to as the "Center") in the Department of Commerce, led by the Secretary of Commerce in consultation with the Secretary of State and through collaboration under section 104, to advance policy recommendations and best practices supporting a secure and resilient critical material supply chain characterized by security against disruptions, environmental sustainability, workforce security and safety, and innovativeness. The Center's functions include (1) studying and reporting on supply chain trends, opportunities, challenges, market dynamics, pricing and availability, and transparency and traceability; (2) studying, reporting on, and recommending policies for the United States and its allies to promote supply chain security and resilience; (3) promoting environmental sustainability through dissemination of best practices and non-duplicative technical assistance for environmental protection in extraction, industrial decarbonization, innovative downstream applications and substitutes, and recycling and reuse to support circular economies (as defined in 33 U.S.C. 4201); (4) strengthening the industry workforce through education, pathways, and best practices developed with the Secretary of Labor to ensure wages are set by free bargaining; (5) bolstering the related innovation ecosystem; and (6) collaborating with U.S. allies on resilient supply chains and innovative partnerships. The Center head must publicly post on the Center's website all reports produced under functions (1) and (2).

This section directs the Secretary of Commerce, acting through the head of the Center and not later than one year after enactment and subject to appropriations, to establish a program—in consultation with the Secretary of State and in collaboration with specified federal agencies—to make or guarantee loans to covered entities for acquiring, establishing, or enhancing facilities related to critical material manufacturing in the United States or a foreign country of interest. To be eligible, a covered entity must (1) have a plan to construct, expand, modernize, or repurpose such a facility, including acquiring equipment; (2) have an executable plan supporting resilient U.S. critical material supply chains, identifying materials to be produced, customers, security benefits, and risks to mitigate; (3) support and expand existing U.S. government actions to strengthen supply chain resiliency; (4) demonstrate ongoing viability without further federal aid, loan repayment ability, and financial health; (5) have no ties to a foreign country of concern, nonmarket economy country, or foreign entity of concern, including in operations, ownership, partnerships, or research; and (6) commit to following procurement policies under the Export-Import Bank's core jobs mandate (12 U.S.C. 635(a)(1)) (i.e., prioritizing U.S. worker employment in export financing). In reviewing loan applications, the Secretary must consider the covered entity's plans for local workforce development and environmental sustainability and, for foreign facilities, factors including adherence to U.S. labor and environmental standards, absence of covered trade actions, and no association with foreign entities of concern.

This section requires the Secretary of Commerce, in consultation with the Secretary of State, to coordinate activities of the Center and program established under section 103 with specified federal agencies and entities—including the Departments of Agriculture, Defense, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, the Interior, Labor, and the Treasury; the Export-Import Bank; the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation; and White House offices of the Council on Environmental Quality, Science and Technology Policy, and the U.S. Trade Representative—to strengthen the U.S. critical materials supply chain through leveraging existing government activities and information exchange (consistent with applicable protections). This section further directs the Inspector General of the Department of Commerce, in consultation with the Inspector General of the Department of State, to submit to the appropriate congressional committees, not later than four years after disbursement of the first award under section 103, a report auditing compliance with these coordination and consultation requirements to support secure critical materials supply chains for U.S. national, energy, and economic security.

This section establishes a public-private partnership, to be created by the Secretary of Commerce through the head of the Center (as established in section 102(a)) not later than one year after enactment in consultation with the Secretary of State and required collaborators under section 104, to support resilient critical material supply chains, bolster U.S. national, energy, and economic security, and promote supply chain transparency, traceability, environmental sustainability, workforce security and safety, and innovation. The partnership must (1) engage domestic-priority stakeholders (e.g., industry, nonprofits, academia, labor) through regular meetings and membership; (2) advise the Center on critical material supply chain dynamics (e.g., market manipulation by foreign countries of concern, pricing, labor compliance, innovation barriers); (3) form international partnerships excluding foreign entities of concern or those in countries of concern; (4) operate an Investment Fund; and (5) publish annual reports summarizing its advice, membership, fund activities, and collaborations. Subject to appropriations under section 106(a), the partnership receives up to $15 million in FY2026, $30 million in FY2027, $45 million in FY2028, $60 million in FY2029, and $75 million in FY2030 and each year thereafter until program expiration. The section further requires the partnership to establish the Investment Fund not later than one year after the partnership's creation. The fund must (1) solicit and invest funds from eligible stakeholders to expand domestic and foreign critical material manufacturing facilities per section 103(b) eligibility; (2) buy and sell critical materials globally (prioritizing domestic producers) to stabilize prices and resilient supply chains, storing purchases in the U.S.; (3) invest in innovative partnerships prioritizing startups and small/medium enterprises; (4) offer financial tools and risk mitigation (e.g., insurance) following Export-Import Bank procurement policies under 12 U.S.C. 635(a)(1); (5) support demonstration, deployment, and adoption of sustainable innovations with U.S. proprietary protections; (6) reinvest profits; and (7) consult federal agencies including the Export-Import Bank and U.S. International Development Finance Corporation. The fund is eligible for loans under section 103(a) after application.

This section authorizes appropriations to the Department of Commerce for the national center established in section 102 as follows: (1) $30 million for FY2026; (2) $45 million for FY2027; (3) $70 million for FY2028; (4) $85 million for FY2029; and (5) $100 million for FY2030 and each fiscal year thereafter before the date specified in section 107. The section further authorizes appropriations to the Department of Commerce for the loan and loan guarantee program established in section 103 as follows: (1) $1 billion for FY2026; (2) $2.5 billion for FY2027; (3) $5 billion for FY2028; (4) $7.5 billion for FY2029; and (5) $10 billion for FY2030 and each fiscal year thereafter before the date specified in section 107. Of the amounts appropriated for the loan program (excluding funds for the Investment Fund under section 105(b)(1)), the section directs the Secretary, to the greatest extent practicable, to allocate available loan authority such that (1) no more than 30% supports facilities in foreign countries of interest for extracting critical materials unavailable domestically, prioritizing secondary U.S. benefits such as purchase agreements with domestic manufacturers; (2) no more than 20% supports U.S. facilities extracting domestically available critical materials; (3) at least 5% supports facilities manufacturing equipment for critical materials production; and (4) at least 10% supports U.S. facilities for recycling critical materials from spent or damaged components or demonstrating, deploying, or commercializing innovative technologies such as qualified substitutes.

This section revises the definitions applicable to the title as follows: (1) revises "appropriate committees of Congress" by streamlining the Senate list to the Committees on Energy and Natural Resources, Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Foreign Relations, Armed Services, and Appropriations (removing the Select Committee on Intelligence, Committees on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, and Finance) and the House list to the Committees on Energy and Commerce, Foreign Affairs, Armed Services, Science, Space, and Technology, Appropriations, Natural Resources, and Ways and Means (removing the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Committees on Financial Services and Homeland Security); (2) revises "covered entity" to mean nonprofit, private, or consortia entities with demonstrated ability to finance, construct, expand, modernize, or repurpose facilities for critical materials extraction, processing or refining, conversion, recycling, or research and development (from semiconductor fabrication, assembly, testing, advanced packaging, production, or research and development), further requiring a determination by the Secretary of Commerce—in consultation with the Secretaries of Defense, Energy, the Interior, and State, and the Director of National Intelligence—that the entity is U.S.-owned/operated or has extensive U.S. presence and is not owned/operated by or a subsidiary of a foreign entity or country of concern or entity detrimental to U.S. national security or foreign policy (thus, excluding entities linked to countries such as China that pose supply chain risks for critical materials essential to energy, defense, and economic security); (3) adds definitions for "byproduct," "conversion," "covered trade action," "critical material," "critical material manufacturing," "foreign country of interest," "foreign country of concern," "foreign entity," "foreign entity of concern," "industrial decarbonization practice," "nonmarket country economy," "nonprofit entity," and "person" (cross-referencing existing statutes such as the Energy Act of 2020 and the William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021).

This section establishes a new investment tax credit under IRC section 48F (added after section 48E) equal to 15% (base rate) or 25% (alternative rate) of a taxpayer's qualified investment in a critical material facility. (Qualified investment is the basis of qualified property—tangible depreciable property, including certain buildings, that is constructed, reconstructed, erected, or originally used by the taxpayer and integral to the facility—placed in service during the taxable year; progress expenditure rules apply, with coordination to exclude rehabilitation credits under section 47.) A critical material facility is one for which the taxpayer makes an irrevocable election, with a primary purpose of (1) extracting, processing, refining, or recycling critical materials (as defined in section 7002(a)(2) of the Energy Act of 2020, i.e., minerals and materials essential to economic/national security such as rare earth elements) or qualified substitutes (verifiable alternatives determined by the Secretary); (2) converting such materials into magnets, alloys, or multicompound chemistries serving essential functions in energy, defense, and other applications with vulnerable supply chains; (3) manufacturing specialized equipment for such processes; or (4) R&D equipment related thereto. (As background, critical materials underpin technologies like batteries, semiconductors, and defense systems, with U.S. supply chains often reliant on foreign sources vulnerable to geopolitical risks.) The 25% rate applies if the facility satisfies prevailing wage/apprenticeship rules similar to section 45(b)(7)(i) or primarily produces critical materials with significantly vulnerable supply, qualified substitutes, or recycled critical materials (all as determined by the Secretary in consultation with other agencies). Eligible taxpayers exclude those under foreign entity of concern ownership/control (per the FY2021 NDAA), domiciled in non-market economies, or subject to covered trade actions.

This section establishes a new general business tax credit under new IRC §45BB for eligible critical materials (i.e., materials designated by the Secretary as essential to economic or national security) produced by a taxpayer in the United States and sold during the taxable year to an unrelated person (or, at the taxpayer's election subject to anti-abuse rules, a related person) in the course of a trade or business. The base credit equals (1) 15% of the taxpayer's production costs for materials at the initial-production stage; (2) 10% if all input eligible materials are sourced domestically; or (3) 7.5% if sourced domestically or from countries listed by the Secretary as having comparable U.S. environmental/labor standards and no forced-labor prohibitions (to be published within one year of enactment, in consultation with the Secretary of State). The credit increases by 10 percentage points if the taxpayer pays prevailing wages (per Department of Labor determinations) and meets apprenticeship requirements or produces materials with supply-chain vulnerabilities, qualified substitutes, or recycled critical materials (as designated by the Secretary). The credit phases out for materials sold after December 31, 2030, to 75% in 2031, 50% in 2032, 25% in 2033, and 0% thereafter. Special rules treat integrated components sold to unrelated persons as qualifying sales, apply to related-party taxpayers and pass-thrus, and allow sales through related parties to count as to unrelated persons.

This section establishes an advisory committee under the Secretary of the Treasury, composed of not fewer than 15 members including representatives of industry, academia, trade organizations, environmental protection organizations, labor organizations, and international partners qualified to advise on increasing domestic critical materials manufacturing capacity, with at least 2 members representing an environmental protection organization and a labor organization. The section exempts the committee from Sec. 14 of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (i.e., the provision requiring termination after two years) and directs the Secretary, in developing guidance necessary to implement the committee, to consult it and the Secretaries of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, and the Interior; the U.S. Trade Representative; the Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy; and other appropriate federal agency heads.

This section revises the National Science Foundation's critical materials mining research and development program (previously critical minerals mining research and development, per sec. 10359 of the CHIPS and Science Act) by (1) updating the program purpose to accelerate innovation in mining strategies and technologies that leverage domestic resources and reduce reliance on foreign critical materials subject to supply disruptions; (2) revising authorized research activities to advance mapping, extraction, production, separation, alloying, and processing techniques that decrease energy intensity, improve supply chains, and yield more efficient, economical, and environmentally benign practices—striking one prior activity and replacing "minerals" with "materials" throughout; (3) requiring collaboration with the Departments of the Interior and Energy, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Office of Science and Technology Policy, national laboratories, Manufacturing USA institutes, industry, labor, academia, nonprofits, and international partners; and (4) defining "critical material" by reference to 30 U.S.C. 1606(a)(2)—which encompasses critical minerals and non-fuel minerals, elements, substances, or materials with high supply chain disruption risk essential to energy technologies—while making conforming changes to headings and the table of contents.

This section amends DOE's mining research and development program (Sec. 40210 of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, 42 U.S.C. 18743) by (1) adding to subsection (a) definitions of "critical material" (cross-referencing the Energy Act of 2020, 30 U.S.C. 1606(a)(2), i.e., non-fuel minerals essential to energy technologies with high supply chain disruption risk) and "skilled technical workforce" (cross-referencing the Innovations in Mentoring, Training, and Apprenticeships Act); and (2) replacing subsection (b) with directions for the Secretary to issue competitive awards to eligible entities—including National Laboratories, Manufacturing USA institutes, state/local/Tribal governments, institutions of higher education, nonprofits, and industry consortia—for research, development, and workforce activities to advance critical materials mining technologies, reduce foreign supply reliance, and promote sustainability. Award activities may include developing extraction/separation technologies, applying artificial intelligence and machine learning to exploration and sorting, conducting isotope and earth observation studies, and providing post-secondary training. The Secretary must collaborate with the Departments of the Interior and other agencies, academia, industry, labor, and international partners, as appropriate, while ensuring complementarity with existing federal programs.

This section directs the National Science Foundation (NSF) Director to make competitive awards to institutions of higher education, nonprofit organizations, or private entities (or consortia thereof) for research and development (R&D) activities and education and workforce development to enhance the sustainability, security, and traceability of critical material supply chains (i.e., minerals and materials essential to economic and national security, such as rare earth elements). Purposes include (1) R&D on manufacturing technologies (e.g., processing, refining, recycling, and industrial decarbonization), innovative materials (e.g., alloys, substitutes, byproducts), downstream applications that reduce reliance on vulnerable supply chains, and circular economy techniques; and (2) training for undergraduate/graduate students and manufacturing workers, including upskilling/reskilling and addressing future shortages. This section further authorizes the NSF Director, subject to appropriations, to establish test beds under the existing NSF test bed program (42 U.S.C. 19110) to advance such critical materials technologies, prioritizing translation and commercialization of qualified substitutes, byproducts, innovative downstream applications, decarbonization technologies, and recycling technologies. This section requires the NSF Director to make competitive, merit-reviewed awards to institutions of higher education and nonprofit organizations (or consortia, potentially including private entities) for partnerships that broaden participation in critical materials education and training. Activities include curricula development and dissemination; regional partnerships among colleges, workforce programs, labor, and industry; apprenticeships and internships; shared infrastructure for experiential learning; public outreach to K-12 and STEM organizations; and coordination with industry and existing programs, with national coordination among awardees.

This section establishes a critical materials program at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), subject to appropriations, to advance measurement science, technical standards, material characterization, instrumentation, testing, and manufacturing—including recycling—for sustainable, secure, and traceable critical material supply chains, as defined in 30 U.S.C. 1606 to include critical minerals with high supply chain disruption risk essential to energy technologies. The program supports (1) innovative materials such as byproducts, substitutes, and recycled content; (2) advanced recycling processes to improve reusability; (3) technical standards for supply chain interoperability and traceability; (4) international collaboration; and (5) other related activities. This section further directs NIST to convene a Critical Materials Recycling Consortium—with representatives from national laboratories, Manufacturing USA institutes, academia, industry, nonprofits, labor, and international partners, excluding foreign entities of concern—to identify standards and metrology gaps for advanced recycling, research needs, and federal recommendations; requires a congressional report within two years of establishment; ensures complementarity with the existing Critical Materials Consortium under 30 U.S.C. 1606(g)(8); and sets consortium termination after five years. NIST must collaborate with the Secretary of Energy and coordinate to avoid duplication with existing programs.

This section revises subsection (d) of section 40210 of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (42 U.S.C. 18743) to establish a Department of Energy grant program for pilot projects to expand domestic critical material production capacity, reduce reliance on vulnerable supply chains, and support supply chain innovation. (As background, critical materials—such as rare earth elements, lithium, and cobalt—are essential components for clean energy technologies, semiconductors, advanced manufacturing, and national security applications.) Grants, limited to $25 million each, may fund (1) innovative manufacturing technologies, including equipment and industrial decarbonization; (2) emerging materials such as qualified substitutes (i.e., verifiable alternatives), byproducts, or recycled critical materials; (3) downstream applications to reduce critical material needs; or (4) other circularity and sustainability measures. Award priorities include long-term economic viability and dedicating at least 40% of annual funding to qualified substitutes, secondary recovery, or recycling; grants are prohibited for projects exporting manufacturing to foreign countries of concern (as defined in 15 U.S.C. 4651). The Secretary of Energy must collaborate with other federal agencies (e.g., Commerce, Defense), national laboratories, academia, industry, and others, while ensuring awards complement existing programs. The program authorizes $150 million annually for FY2026 through FY2030.

This section defines 10 terms for purposes of this title, including "(1) byproduct," "critical material," and "qualified substitute," as defined or used in the Energy Act of 2020 (30 U.S.C. 1606); "(5) foreign country of concern" and "(6) foreign entity of concern," as defined in the William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (15 U.S.C. 4651); and "(10) technical standard," as defined in the National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995 (15 U.S.C. 272 note); and new terms such as "(2) conversion" (i.e., the process to alter a refined or purified critical material to a secondary compound subject to supply chain disruptions relevant to U.S. national, energy, and economic security, including manufacturing of magnets, alloys, or multicompound chemistries), "(4) critical material supply chain" (i.e., the lifecycle of a critical material, including extraction, processing or refining, conversion, and recycling), "(8) recycling," and "(9) refined or purified critical material."