Report on national security implications of restrictions on the cross-border movement of rare earth elements containing scrap equipment and components

(a) Report required Not later than a one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment shall provide to the Committee on Armed Services of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate a report on the national security implications of imposing restrictions on the cross-border movement, export, or transfer of rare-earth-element-containing scrap equipment, devices, components, assemblies, and related materials generated in the United States. The Under Secretary may prepare the report in coordination with the Secretary of Commerce, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Energy, and the Secretary of Homeland Security, other appropriate agencies, and may consult with domestic recyclers and processors, manufacturers, State and tribal governments, and other stakeholders. (b) Contents The report shall include— (1) an overview of the defense systems and supply chains that rely on rare earth permanent magnets and the estimated volume of rare-earth-element-containing scrap originating from the defense industrial base; (2) the estimated quantity of rare-earth-element that could feasibly be recovered annually from domestically generated scrap; (3) the extent to which rare-earth-element-containing scrap generated domestically is exported to foreign countries for recycling and processing; (4) the extent to which scrap exports support rare-earth-element refining or magnet production in foreign countries of concern, such as the People’s Republic of China; (5) an assessment of current and projected capacity of domestic facilities to collect, process, and refine rare-earth-element-containing scrap materials; (6) an evaluation of the potential impacts of imposing export restrictions on rare-earth-element-containing scrap on the defense industrial base, domestic recycling and processing capacity, and supply chain resilience for defense systems; (7) identification of gaps in federal data collection regarding the export of rare-earth-element-containing scrap and recommendations to address said gaps; and (8) recommendations for legislative or administrative actions to strengthen domestic recovery and processing of rare earths from scrap materials, including potential mechanisms for restricting export of rare-earth-element-containing scrap to support defense supply chain resilience.