S.Amdt. 3922

SA 3922. Mr. HEINRICH submitted an amendment intended to be proposed
to amendment SA 3748 proposed by Mr. Wicker (for himself and Mr. Reed)
to the bill S. 2296, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2026
for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military
construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy,
to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for
other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

At the appropriate place in title I, insert the following:

SEC. 1__. MULTIYEAR PROCUREMENT AUTHORITY FOR ULTRA-HIGH-
PURITY NUCLEAR-GRADE GRAPHITE.

(a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
(1) Executive Order 13953 (30 U.S.C. 1601 note) of
President Donald J. Trump determined that--
(A) ``our Nation's undue reliance on critical minerals, in
processed or unprocessed form, from foreign adversaries
constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat'' that is a
``national emergency'';
(B) ``the United States is 100 percent reliant on imports
for graphite''; and
(C) ``China produces . . . almost all of the world's . . .
high-purity graphite''.
(2) There are no domestic or allied sources of ultra-high-
purity nuclear-grade graphite.
(b) Authority for Multiyear Procurement.--Subject to
section 3501 of title 10, United States Code, the Secretary
of Defense shall enter into one or more multiyear contracts
for the procurement of 1,500 metric tonnes of ultra-high-
purity nuclear-grade graphite per year over the covered
period, from the sole known source of such graphite in North
America, in the amount of $60,000,000 per year.
(c) Authority for Advance Procurement.--The Secretary of
Defense shall enter into one or more contracts, beginning in
fiscal year 2026, for advance procurement associated with
ultra-high-purity nuclear-grade graphite for which
authorization to enter into a multiyear procurement contract
is provided under subsection (b), in economic order
quantities consistent with this section.
(d) Condition for Out-year Contract Payments.--A contract
entered into under subsection (b) shall provide that any
obligation of the United States to make a payment under the
contract for a fiscal year after fiscal year 2026 is subject
to the availability of appropriations or funds for that
purpose for such later fiscal year.
(e) Funding.--The amount authorized to be appropriated by
this Act for purchases of strategic and critical materials
under the Defense Production Act of 1950 (50 U.S.C. 4501 et
seq.) is hereby increased by $60,000,000, with the amount of
the increase to be used for the procurement of 1,500 metric
tonnes of ultra-high-purity nuclear-grade graphite.
(f) Covered Period Defined.--In this section, the term
``covered period'' means the period--
(1) beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act; and
(2) ending on the date that is, at minimum, 17 years after
such date of enactment, and, at maximum, 50 years after such
date of enactment.

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