President Biden has tucked
another $500 million to fund the production of the minerals used to make batteries
for electric cars into the Ukraine aid bill passed by Congress.
Both Biden and Ukrainian
leaders had said that the $40 billion emergency aid package was essential for
Ukraine’s war. But tucked into that package was not only military aid
but half a billion dollars to be allocated under the Defense Production Act to
companies obtaining critical battery minerals like nickel, cobalt, lithium, and
graphite, Bloomberg first noted.
That’s in addition to the $750
million the Defense Department (DOD) was authorized to dole out to mining
companies in March when Biden first invoked the Defense Production Act for
critical minerals.
