The US Congress hopes to double the rare earth mineral fund

The U.S. Congress seeks to more than double the net value of the national strategic mineral reserves to reduce the dependence of the defense industrial base on China and other rivals, so as to obtain the supply needed to manufacture products ranging from bullets to nuclear weapons to night vision goggles.

Recently, the Military Commission submitted the annual defense authorization bill of the Senate. According to the summary of the bill, the bill will authorize the allocation of $1billion for the defense reserve in fiscal 2023 to "obtain the current shortage of strategies and key minerals". This will more than double the value of rare earth reserves, including titanium, tungsten, cobalt, antimony and many other minerals vital to the defense supply chain.

The current value of the fund is $888million, down from $42billion at the beginning of the cold war in 1952. Lawmakers are worried that if Congress does not take action, the national defense reserve will be insolvent before fiscal year 25, and will give priority to supporting the fund in this year's defense allocation and authorization cycle.

The Senate bill will also amend the law to give the Ministry of defense more discretion and flexibility on funding issues. The current law encourages mineral sales of defense reserves to meet the requirements of the Congress budget office, rather than retaining reserves for emergencies.

The house of Representatives is expected to introduce a version of the defense authorization bill next week, and the house and Senate will vote on the bill later this year.

The $40billion Ukrainian military assistance plan approved by the U.S. Congress last month also includes $500million in the defense production act to strengthen the key mineral supply chain of the United States