(a) The Congress finds that-
(1) the availability of adequate supplies of strategic and critical industrial minerals and materials continues to be essential for national security, economic well-being, and industrial production;
(2) the United States is increasingly dependent on foreign sources of materials and vulnerable to supply interruption in the case of many of those minerals and materials essential to the Nation's defense and economic well-being;
(3) together with increasing import dependence, the Nation's industrial base, including the capacity to process minerals and materials, is deteriorating-both in terms of facilities and in terms of a trained labor force;
(4) research, development, and technological innovation, especially related to improved materials and new processing technologies, are important factors which affect our long-term capability for economic competitiveness, as well as for adjustment to interruptions in supply of critical minerals and materials;
(5) while other nations have developed and implemented specific long-term research and technology programs to develop high-performance materials, no such policy and program evolution has occurred in the United States;
(6) establishing critical materials reserves, by both the public and private sectors and with proper organization and management, represents one means of responding to the genuine risks to our economy and national defense from dependency on foreign sources;
(7) there exists no single Federal entity with the authority and responsibility for establishing critical materials policy and for coordinating and implementing that policy; and
(8) the importance of materials to national goals requires an organizational means for establishing responsibilities for materials programs and for the coordination, within and at a suitably high level of the Executive Office of the President, with other existing policies within the Federal Government.
(b) It is the purpose of this chapter-
(1) to establish a National Critical Materials Council under and reporting to the Executive Office of the President which shall-
(A) establish responsibilities for and provide for necessary coordination of critical materials policies, including all facets of research and technology, among the various agencies and departments of the Federal Government, and make recommendations for the implementation of such policies;
(B) bring to the attention of the President, the Congress, and the general public such materials issues and concerns, including research and development, as are deemed critical to the economic and strategic health of the Nation; and
(C) ensure adequate and continuing consultation with the private sector concerning critical materials, materials research and development, use of materials, Federal materials policies, and related matters;
(2) to establish a national Federal program for advanced materials research and technology, including basic phenomena through processing and manufacturing technology; and
(3) to stimulate innovation and technology utilization in basic as well as advanced materials industries.
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