S.Amdt. 1770

SA 1770. Mr. MANCHIN (for himself, Mrs. Capito, Ms. Cortez Masto, Mr.
Grassley, Ms. Ernst, and Ms. Murkowski) submitted an amendment intended
to be proposed to amendment SA 1502 proposed by Mr. Schumer to the bill
S. 1260, to establish a new Directorate for Technology and Innovation
in the National Science Foundation, to establish a regional technology
hub program, to require a strategy and report on economic security,
science, research, innovation, manufacturing, and job creation, to
establish a critical supply chain resiliency program, and for other
purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

On page 188, strike lines 2 through 25 and insert the
following:
(a) Critical Minerals Mining Research and Development.--
(1) In general.--In order to support supply chain
resiliency, the Secretary of Energy, in coordination with the
Director, shall issue awards, on a competitive basis, to
National Laboratories (as defined in section 2 of the Energy
Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 15801)), institutions of higher
education, or nonprofit organizations (or consortia of such
institutions or organizations, including consortia that
collaborate with private industry) to support basic research
that will accelerate innovation to advance critical minerals
mining strategies and technologies for the purpose of making
better use of domestic resources and eliminating national
reliance on minerals and mineral materials that are subject
to supply disruptions.
(2) Use of funds.--Activities funded by an award under this
section may include--
(A) advancing mining research and development activities to
develop new mapping and mining technologies and techniques,
including advanced critical mineral extraction and
production, to improve existing or to develop new supply
chains of critical minerals, and to yield more efficient,
economical, and environmentally benign mining practices;
(B) advancing critical mineral processing and geochemical
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