PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in House · Feb 12, 2025
USA Batteries Act
This bill eliminates the Superfund chemical excise tax imposed on lead oxide ($8.28 per ton), antimony ($8.90 per ton), and sulfuric acid ($0.52 per ton).
Under current law, an excise tax is imposed through December 31, 2031, on taxable chemicals and taxable chemical substances that are (1) manufactured or produced in the United States, or (2) imported into the United States. The excise tax rate varies between $0.44 per ton to $9.74 per ton, depending on the chemical and certain other variables. (There are 42 listed taxable chemicals, including lead oxide, antimony, and sulfuric acid.)
Further, under current law, amounts collected from the excise tax on taxable chemicals are deposited into the Superfund, which finances the remediation of certain environmentally contaminated sites.
People & committees
Rep. Meuser, Daniel [R-PA-9] · R–PA
Legislative record
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Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We also preserved the text version used in the PlainBill explanation below.
No related bills are listed in this snapshot. This does not establish whether the proposal has appeared in earlier Congresses.
Source last updated: Jun 9, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
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PlainBill explanation
Based on the full Introduced in House · 2025-02-12 text. This explanation has not received human editorial review. This overview describes the proposal’s major provisions; it does not establish what its real-world effects would be.
The proposed USA Batteries Act would remove lead oxide, antimony, and sulfuric acid from the federal chemical-tax table used for Superfund excise taxes. The bill presents this change as relief for domestic battery manufacturing, but its operative language removes the three chemical entries without limiting the change to battery production.
This Act may be cited as the USA Batteries Act.
The Superfund fee established in Public Law 117–58 makes American manufacturing less competitive by imposing a tax on chemicals used in domestic battery production that is not levied on imported batteries.
3. Elimination of lead oxide, antimony, and sulfuric acid as taxable chemicals under Superfund excise taxes The table in section 4661(b) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking the rows relating to lead oxide, antimony, and sulfuric acid.
Section 2 states the bill's rationale: taxes on domestic production disadvantage American manufacturers, and lead batteries serve several critical sectors. These are findings asserted in the proposed bill, not demonstrated effects of the proposed tax change.
(4) Lead batteries are critical for many sectors, including defense, transportation, logistics, telecommunications, and energy generation. (5) Increased taxes on domestic production create a disadvantage for American manufacturers and reduce the global competitiveness of the domestic lead battery industry by increasing the costs of key raw materials.
Section 3 would amend section 4661(b) of the Internal Revenue Code by deleting the rows for lead oxide, antimony, and sulfuric acid. The specified mechanism is removal of those entries from the tax table.
The table in section 4661(b) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking the rows relating to lead oxide, antimony, and sulfuric acid.
The supplied official-actions snapshot, updated June 9, 2026, records introduction in the House and referral to the House Committee on Ways and Means on February 12, 2025.
Source snapshot updated 2026-06-09T15:02:58Z. 2025-02-12: Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means. 2025-02-12: Introduced in House
A closer look
Reviewed version: Introduced in House · 2025-02-12. These findings describe provisions and who may benefit; they are not judgments of waste, corruption, or motive.
This review covers the supplied bill text. “None identified” does not rule out provisions in later versions or accompanying reports and disclosures.
Provisions outside the bill’s main subject, or policy changes attached to appropriations.
None identified in the reviewed text
No unrelated provision or policy attached to appropriations was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion is limited to that version and does not establish absence in other versions or accompanying materials.
Spending directed to particular recipients or places outside ordinary competitive or formula-based allocation.
None identified in the reviewed text
No congressionally directed spending for particular recipients or places was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion is limited to that version; earmark disclosures and committee or conference materials were not supplied.
Narrow exceptions, exemptions, or preferential treatment that warrant a closer look.
Findings to examine
The proposed chemical-specific tax exclusion is a targeted benefit central to the bill's policy. This classification does not imply improper purpose.
The proposal singles out lead oxide, antimony, and sulfuric acid for removal from the taxable-chemical table, providing preferential tax treatment for taxpayers otherwise subject to that table's tax on those chemicals.
3. Elimination of lead oxide, antimony, and sulfuric acid as taxable chemicals under Superfund excise taxes The table in section 4661(b) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking the rows relating to lead oxide, antimony, and sulfuric acid.
Full text preserved for this analysis. Legislative record snapshot: Jun 9, 2026. How PlainBill uses AI