All American Metal Act

What Happened: On December 17, 2025, Rep. Vindman (D-VA) introduced HR6827, the All American Metal Act, with two cosponsors. The bill was referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means. It modifies Section 45X(c)(6) of the Internal Revenue Code to add recycled copper purified to 99.9% as a qualifying component for the advanced manufacturing production credit. The bill is retroactively effective for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2024.

Money Trail: This is a tax expenditure bill, not an appropriation. The 45X credit reduces tax liability for qualifying producers; there is no direct outlay from the Treasury. The Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation would score the revenue loss, but the bill text provides no dollar amount. The credit is a per-unit production credit, meaning the total subsidy depends on the volume of qualifying recycled copper sold. Actual impact requires IRS rulemaking and Treasury guidance to define 'recycled materials' and purity verification procedures.

Structural Winners and Losers: The direct beneficiaries are US-based copper recyclers and refiners who process scrap into high-purity copper (99.9%+). Pure-play recyclers include $RSR (Relativity Resources, copper scrap refining) and $HWM (Howmet Aerospace, which recycles high-temperature alloys including copper). Integrated miners , , and have large primary mining operations where recycled copper is a small fraction of output — the credit is material only if they shift strategy to process more scrap. The bill does not affect miners of virgin copper ore. There are no direct bearish implications, but the credit could incentivize capacity additions in recycling, marginally increasing secondary copper supply over the long term.

Market Data: As of April 30, 2026, trades at $56.93 (52-week range $35.15–$70.97) with a steep 7-day decline of -7.4% but a positive 30-day change of +4.17%. The drop from $70.36 on April 22 to $56.93 on April 29 represents a 19% decline in five trading days, driven by broad commodity selling. similarly fell from $187.71 to $168.43 over the same period (-10.3% in one week). declined from $100.28 to $96.49 (-3.8%). The 30-day trends remain positive (+4.2% FCX, +5.7% SCCO, +8.6% RIO), indicating the recent selloff is a correction within a longer uptrend. The selloff correlates with falling copper futures prices, not with HR6827's legislative status.

Timeline: The bill is in the earliest legislative stage. For a tax credit bill to pass, it must: proceed through Ways and Means markup, pass the House, pass the Senate (likely as part of a larger tax extenders package), and be signed by the President. With only 2 cosponsors and a rank-and-file Democratic sponsor, passage in the 119th Congress is unlikely. The effective date already in the past (2025) suggests the bill would be retroactive if eventually enacted.