50 U.S.C. § 98e–2 — Multiyear procurement authority for domestically processed critical minerals

(a) Subject to section 3501 of title 10, and using money from discretionary appropriations placed in the National Defense Stockpile Transaction Fund after December 22, 2023, the Secretary of Defense can sign one or more multiyear contracts to buy critical minerals processed in the United States by domestic sources. (b) A multiyear contract signed under this section counts as an acquisition under the Strategic and Critical Materials Stock Piling Act. (c) The Secretary of Defense can also sign contracts, starting in fiscal year 2024, for advance procurement tied to the domestically processed critical minerals covered by the multiyear contracts in subsection (a). (d) Any contract under subsection (a) must state that the government's duty to pay for a fiscal year after 2024 depends on Congress actually making appropriations or funds available for that later year. (e) Definitions for this section: (1) “Critical mineral” means a mineral determined to be a strategic and critical material under section 3(a) of the Strategic and Critical Materials Stock Piling Act. (2) “Processed” means processing or recycling a critical mineral or magnet — including separating, reducing, converting to metal, alloying, milling, pressing, strip casting, and sintering it. (3) “Domestic source” has the meaning given in section 4552 of this title.