II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4404 

To authorize certain actions to address domestic industrial base shortfalls, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 14, 2022 

Ms. ERNST (for herself, Mr. MANCHIN, Mr. DAINES, Mrs. BLACKBURN, Mr. 

SCOTT of Florida, Mr. KING, and Mr. PETERS) introduced the following 

bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, 

Housing, and Urban Affairs 

A BILL 

To authorize certain actions to address domestic industrial 

base shortfalls, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Homeland Acceleration 

5 of Recovering Deposits and Renewing Onshore Critical 

6 Keystones Act of 2022’’ or the ‘‘HARD ROCK Act of 

7 2022’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. AUTHORITY TO ACQUIRE MATERIALS FOR NA2 TIONAL DEFENSE STOCKPILE TO ADDRESS 

3 SHORTFALLS. 

4 (a) MODIFICATION OF ACQUISITION AUTHORITY.— 

5 Section 5 of the Strategic and Critical Materials Stock Pil6 ing Act (50 U.S.C. 98d) is amended— 

7 (1) in subsection (a)— 

8 (A) in paragraph (1)— 

9 (i) in the first sentence, by inserting 

10 ‘‘under the authority of paragraph (3) or’’ 

11 after ‘‘Except for acquisitions made’’; and 

12 (ii) in the second sentence, by striking 

13 ‘‘for such acquisition’’ and inserting ‘‘for 

14 any acquisition of materials under this 

15 Act’’; 

16 (B) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘any 

17 such transaction’’ and inserting ‘‘any trans18 action’’; and 

19 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

20 ‘‘(3) Using funds available in the National Defense 

21 Stockpile Transaction Fund established under section 9, 

22 the National Defense Stockpile Manager may acquire ma23 terials determined to be strategic and critical under sec24 tion 3(a) without regard to the requirement of the first 

25 sentence of paragraph (1) if the Stockpile Manager deterVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:01 Jun 15, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4404.IS S4404

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1 mines there is a shortfall of such materials in the stock2 pile.’’; and 

3 (2) in subsection (c), by striking ‘‘to carry out 

4 the purposes for which appropriated for a period of 

5 two fiscal years, if so provided in the appropriations 

6 Acts’’ and inserting ‘‘until expended, unless other7 wise provided in appropriations Acts’’. 

8 (b) CLARIFICATION THAT STOCKPILE MAY NOT BE

9 USED FOR BUDGETARY PURPOSES.—Section 2(c) of the 

10 Strategic and Critical Materials Stock Piling Act (50 

11 U.S.C. 98(c)) is amended by striking ‘‘is not to be used’’ 

12 and inserting ‘‘shall not be used’’. 

13 (c) ANNUAL BRIEFINGS.—Section 11 of the Strategic 

14 and Critical Materials Stock Piling Act (50 U.S.C. 98h– 

15 2) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

16 ‘‘(c)(1) Not later than 30 days after submitting a re17 port required by subsection (a), the National Defense 

18 Stockpile Manager shall brief the committees specified in 

19 paragraph (2) on the state of the stockpile and the acqui20 sitions intended to be made within the next fiscal year. 

21 ‘‘(2) The committees specified in this paragraph 

22 are— 

23 ‘‘(A) the Committee on Armed Services, the 

24 Committee on Foreign Relations, the Committee on 

25 Energy and Natural Resources, the Committee on 


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1 Commerce, Science, and Transportation, and the Se2 lect Committee on Intelligence of the Senate; and 

3 ‘‘(B) the Committee on Armed Services, the 

4 Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Committee on 

5 Natural Resources, the Committee on Energy and 

6 Commerce, and the Permanent Select Committee on 

7 Intelligence of the House of Representatives.’’. 

8 SEC. 3. INCREASED THRESHOLD FOR ACTIONS TO REMEDY 

9 CERTAIN DOMESTIC INDUSTRIAL BASE 

10 SHORTFALLS. 

11 Section 303(a)(6) of the Defense Production Act of 

12 1950 (50 U.S.C. 4533(a)(6)) is amended— 

13 (1) in subparagraph (B)— 

14 (A) by striking ‘‘If the taking’’ and insert15 ing the following: 

16 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—If the taking’’; 

17 (B) by striking ‘‘$50,000,000’’ and insert18 ing ‘‘the amount specified in clause (ii)’’; and 

19 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

20 ‘‘(ii) AMOUNT SPECIFIED.—The 

21 amount specified in this clause is— 

22 ‘‘(I) except as provided in sub23 clause (II), $50,000,000; and 

24 ‘‘(II) in the case of a domestic 

25 industrial base shortfall relating to an 


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1 industrial resource described in clause 

2 (iii), $350,000,000. 

3 ‘‘(iii) INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES DE4 SCRIBED.—An industrial resource de5 scribed in this clause is any of the fol6 lowing: 

7 ‘‘(I) A material determined to be 

8 a strategic and critical material under 

9 section 3(a) of the Strategic and Crit10 ical Materials Stock Piling Act (50 

11 U.S.C. 98b(a)) with respect to which 

12 the National Defense Stockpile has a 

13 shortfall of more than $100,000,000, 

14 as demonstrated by the most recent 

15 report required by section 11 of that 

16 Act (50 U.S.C. 98h–2). 

17 ‘‘(II) Any industrial resource nec18 essary for the production, separation, 

19 or processing of a critical mineral (as 

20 defined in section 7002(a) of the En21 ergy Act of 2020 (30 U.S.C. 

22 1606(a))).’’; and 

23 (2) by amending subparagraph (C) to read as 

24 follows: 


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1 ‘‘(C) LIMITATION.—If entering into an ob2 ligation under this section to correct an indus3 trial resource shortfall would cause the aggre4 gate outstanding amount of all such obligations 

5 for such industrial resource shortfall to exceed 

6 $50,000,000, no such obligation may be entered 

7 until the President provides a briefing to Con8 gress on the nature of the shortfall and the ac9 tion or actions necessary to mitigate the short10 fall.’’. 

11 SEC. 4. REPORT ON MODIFICATIONS TO NATIONAL TECH12 NOLOGY AND INDUSTRIAL BASE. 

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than December 1, 2023, 

14 the Secretary of Defense shall submit to the congressional 

15 defense committees a report on the benefits and risks of 

16 potential legislative proposals to increase the availability 

17 of strategic and critical materials that are, as of the date 

18 of the enactment of this Act, sourced primarily from the 

19 People’s Republic of China or the Russian Federation. 

20 (b) ELEMENTS.—The report required by subsection 

21 (a) shall include an assessment of the following: 

22 (1) The implications of modifying the term ‘‘do23 mestic source’’ for purposes of the Defense Produc24 tion Act of 1950 (50 U.S.C. 4501 et seq.) to ‘‘do25 mestic and allied source’’ and including business 


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1 concerns in Canada, the United Kingdom, and Aus2 tralia in the definition of that term. 

3 (2) The benefits of facilitating more effective 

4 integration of the national technology and industrial 

5 base with the technology and industrial bases of 

6 countries that are allies or partners of the United 

7 States with respect to technology transfer, socio8 economic procurement requirements, and export con9 trols. 

10 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

11 (1) CONGRESSIONAL DEFENSE COMMITTEES.— 

12 The term ‘‘congressional defense committees’’ has 

13 the meaning given that term in section 101(a) of 

14 title 10, United States Code. 

15 (2) NATIONAL TECHNOLOGY AND INDUSTRIAL

16 BASE.—The term ‘‘national technology and indus17 trial base’’ has the meaning given that term in sec18 tion 4801 of title 10, United States Code. 

19 (3) STRATEGIC AND CRITICAL MATERIALS.— 

20 The term ‘‘strategic and critical materials’’ has the 

21 meaning given that term in section 12 of the Stra22 tegic and Critical Materials Stock Piling Act (50 

23 U.S.C. 98h–3). 

Æ 


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