Congress Failed to Pass Any Critical Minerals Bill During 2023-24 Sessions

After more than 200 hearings failed to enact any of the 415 proposed bills, it will be up to the next Congress to put words into action on critical minerals.

A worker uses a shovel to show the raw material for the manufacture of lithium carbonate inside a salt recovery pool at the Llipi pilot Plant in the Uyuni Salt Flats in Bolivia on Aug. 13, 2022. The Uyuni Salt Flats, in the Potosi province, have the largest lithium reserves in the world. Gaston Brito Miserocchi/Getty Images

The nation’s reliance on imported critical minerals and rare earth elements from China was discussed in 245 committee meetings and mentioned in 95 reports during the 118th Congress’s 2022 and 2023 sessions, according to Congress.Gov.

When Congress adjourned on Dec. 20 with the midnight passage of a continuing resolution to fund the government through March, it did so without adopting any of the 415 proposed bills related to critical minerals as standalone legislation over the last two years.