Congress funds $250 million lab to process rare metals better.
H.R. 9740 — Critical Materials Processing Technology Testbed Act · Filed by Bill Foster (D-IL) · Introduced Jul 16, 2026 · Referred to committee
Your members of Congress
Enter a ZIP to see where your representative and both senators stood on this bill.
Looked up on this device — your ZIP is never stored on our servers.
What it does
The bill tells the Department of Energy to build a research facility. It will test new ways to process rare metals and minerals. These metals are used in clean energy, defense, and making things. The bill gives $250 million over five years to labs, schools, and firms. The goal is cleaner, safer, and faster processing methods.
Who it affects
Labs, schools, and firms that do research will get money. Mining and processing firms may gain from new tools. Workers and towns near processing sites could see less pollution. The public may gain from stronger U.S. supply chains for rare metals.
One thing to notice
The bill says results must stay in the U.S. but does not limit which U.S. firms can use them. Private firms may get research results without paying their share if they work through a lab.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
- Jul 16, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jul 16, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the full bill text on Jul 19, 2026; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,707 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-09-23.
“Congress funds $250 million lab to process rare metals better.” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr9740/simple Report an error