In a rare display of bipartisanship, a group of U.S. Senators this week sent letters to four cabinet members expressing their frustration over the administration’s lack of progress in using funds allocated by Congress in the Energy Act of 2020 to build a domestic critical mineral supply chain.

The Senators’ impatience on this issue reflects a broader anxiety in Washington about the current U.S. dependence on China for supplies of processed metals and minerals including cobalt, manganese, and nickel which are essential to electric vehicle batteries and other next-generation technologies.