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U.S. Code as of:
01/19/04
Section 1801. Congressional findings and declaration of purposes
(a) The Congress finds that -
(1) the availability of adequate supplies of strategic and
critical industrial minerals and materials continues to be
essential for national security, economic well-being, and
industrial production;
(2) the United States is increasingly dependent on foreign
sources of materials and vulnerable to supply interruption in the
case of many of those minerals and materials essential to the
Nation's defense and economic well-being;
(3) together with increasing import dependence, the Nation's
industrial base, including the capacity to process minerals and
materials, is deteriorating - both in terms of facilities and in
terms of a trained labor force;
(4) research, development, and technological innovation,
especially related to improved materials and new processing
technologies, are important factors which affect our long-term
capability for economic competitiveness, as well as for
adjustment to interruptions in supply of critical minerals and
materials;
(5) while other nations have developed and implemented specific
long-term research and technology programs to develop
high-performance materials, no such policy and program evolution
has occurred in the United States;
(6) establishing critical materials reserves, by both the
public and private sectors and with proper organization and
management, represents one means of responding to the genuine
risks to our economy and national defense from dependency on
foreign sources;
(7) there exists no single Federal entity with the authority
and responsibility for establishing critical materials policy and
for coordinating and implementing that policy; and
(8) the importance of materials to national goals requires an
organizational means for establishing responsibilities for
materials programs and for the coordination, within and at a
suitably high level of the Executive Office of the President,
with other existing policies within the Federal Government.
(b) It is the purpose of this chapter -
(1) to establish a National Critical Materials Council under
and reporting to the Executive Office of the President which
shall -
(A) establish responsibilities for and provide for necessary
coordination of critical materials policies, including all
facets of research and technology, among the various agencies
and departments of the Federal Government, and make
recommendations for the implementation of such policies;
(B) bring to the attention of the President, the Congress,
and the general public such materials issues and concerns,
including research and development, as are deemed critical to
the economic and strategic health of the Nation; and
(C) ensure adequate and continuing consultation with the
private sector concerning critical materials, materials
research and development, use of materials, Federal materials
policies, and related matters;
(2) to establish a national Federal program for advanced
materials research and technology, including basic phenomena
through processing and manufacturing technology; and
(3) to stimulate innovation and technology utilization in basic
as well as advanced materials industries.
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