WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats voiced concerns Tuesday over the Pentagon’s rare earth mineral equity deal with MP Materials that ranged from the legality of the arrangement to questions about future competitions.
“I have questions about the legal basis, financial terms and strategic rationale for these transactions,” the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. Jack Reed, told Pentagon witnesses. “The legal basis, in particular, appears questionable.”
Reed’s comments center on a July 2025 deal between the Department of Defense and MP Materials, billed as a way to shore up the rare earth magnet supply chain. MP Materials describes itself as “America’s only fully integrated rare earth producer” that produces “the world’s strongest…
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Source breakingdefense.com
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