I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4977 

To amend the Better Utilization of Investments Leading to Development 

Act of 2018 to provide support in high-income economy countries for 

projects involving development or processing of certain critical materials. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 27, 2023 

Mr. CARTER of Georgia (for himself and Ms. TITUS) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend the Better Utilization of Investments Leading 

to Development Act of 2018 to provide support in highincome economy countries for projects involving development or processing of certain critical materials. 

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 ‘‘Critical Mineral Access 

5 Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO BETTER UTILIZATION OF INVEST2 MENTS LEADING TO DEVELOPMENT ACT OF 

3 2018. 

4 Section 1412(b) of the Better Utilization of Invest5 ments Leading to Development Act of 2018 (22 U.S.C. 

6 9612(b)) is amended— 

7 (1) by striking ‘‘The purpose’’ and inserting the 

8 following: 

9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The purpose’’; 

10 (2) by striking ‘‘shall be to’’ and inserting the 

11 following: ‘‘shall be— 

12 ‘‘(A) to’’; 

13 (3) by striking ‘‘the United States.’’ and insert14 ing the following: ‘‘the United States; and 

15 ‘‘(B) to provide support under title II in 

16 high-income economy countries for projects in17 volving development or processing of covered 

18 critical materials if such support furthers the 

19 national security interests of the United 

20 States.’’; 

21 (4) by striking ‘‘In carrying out’’ and inserting 

22 the following: 

23 ‘‘(2) CONSIDERATION OF CERTAIN CRITERIA.— 

24 In carrying out’’; and 

25 (5) by adding at the end the following: 

26 ‘‘(3) DEFINITIONS.—In paragraph (1)(B): 


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1 ‘‘(A) COVERED CRITICAL MATERIALS.— 

2 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘covered 

3 critical materials’ means aluminum (baux4 ite), antimony, arsenic, barite, beryllium, 

5 bismuth, cesium, chromium, cobalt, 

6 fluorspar, gallium, germanium, graphite 

7 (natural), hafnium, helium, indium, lith8 ium, magnesium, manganese, niobium, 

9 platinum group metals, potash, the rare 

10 earth elements group, rhenium, rubidium, 

11 scandium, strontium, tantalum, tellurium, 

12 tin, titanium, tungsten, uranium, vana13 dium, and zirconium. 

14 ‘‘(ii) RARE EARTH ELEMENTS

15 GROUP.—In clause (i), the term ‘rare earth 

16 elements group’ means lanthanum, cerium, 

17 praseodymium, neodymium, promethium, 

18 samarium, europium, gadolinium, terbium, 

19 dysprosium, holmium, erbium, thulium, yt20 terbium, lutetium, scandium, yttrium. 

21 ‘‘(B) HIGH-INCOME ECONOMY COUNTRY.— 

22 The term ‘high-income economy country’ means 

23 a country with a high-income economy, as de24 fined by the International Bank for Reconstruc25 tion and Development and the International 


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1 Development Association (collectively referred 

2 to as the ‘World Bank’).’’. 

Æ 


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