Critical Materials Processing Technology Testbed Act (HR9740)
Current understanding
HR9740, the Critical Materials Processing Technology Testbed Act, would establish a federal technology testbed dedicated to critical materials processing. The bill has been referred to the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology; substantive design details, authorization levels, and host-agency assignments are not yet disclosed. Status is pre-markup at committee referral.
Evidence log
- 2026-08-04 — Presidential Determination Pursuant to Section 101 of the Defense Production Act of 1950, as Amended, on Recoverable Critical Minerals and Materials: cross-connection with dpa-recoverable-critical-minerals-materials: DPA authorities for recoverable critical minerals pair with the proposed federal processing testbed to address recovery-through-processing bottlenecks. (novelty: 3)
- 2026-05-13 — Army Organic Industrial Base Mineral Partnerships Act of 2026: cross-connection with army-oib-mineral-partnerships-act: HR9740 stands up a federal critical-materials processing testbed while HR8797 would channel mineral partnerships into the Army’s organic industrial base — complementary upstream (processing) and downstream (Army manufacturing) legs of the same supply chain. (novelty: 2)
- 2026-07-16 — Critical Materials Processing Technology Testbed Act: cross-connection with critical-mineral-supply-chain-security: Both target U.S. critical minerals/materials resilience — the testbed bill addresses the domestic processing bottleneck that critical-mineral supply chain security policy identifies as a key vulnerability. (novelty: 3)