Rep. Stefanik Calls For DOD To Kick Off Critical Mineral Policy

Rep. Stefanik Calls For DOD To Kick Off Critical Mineral Policy

April 26, 2024, Law360

Commentary from Stephanie Barna was included in a recent Law360 piece covering congressional reactions to a provision of the fiscal 2024 National Defense Authorization Act  (NDAA) that provides the Defense Department with multi-year—as opposed to annual—ability to purchase rare-earth elements that are processed in the U.S. A Covington blog post co-authored by Stephanie is cited in the article.

They write that “the war in Ukraine spurred congressional, DoD, and industry interest in the use of multi-year contracting for munitions” and added that “Congress seems to perceive that a similar grant of multi-year procurement authority for domestic [rare-earth elements] could galvanize the nascent domestic processing industry and better sustain the U.S. [rare-earth element] stockpile.”