H.R. 1264 — USA Batteries Act

This section provides the short title of the Act as the “USA Batteries Act.”

This section makes findings that the Superfund fee established in Public Law 117–58 imposes a tax on chemicals used in domestic battery production that is not levied on imported batteries, and states that the American lead battery industry has more than 165 GWh of manufacturing capacity, a $23.6 billion annual domestic economic impact, and more than 25,000 direct jobs in 38 States. It also finds that lead batteries have a 99 percent recycling rate, are used in defense, transportation, logistics, telecommunications, and energy generation, and that higher taxes on domestic production increase costs for key raw materials and reduce the global competitiveness of domestic lead battery manufacturers.

This section terminates the Superfund excise tax on lead oxide, antimony, and sulfuric acid by striking the rows for those taxable chemicals from the table in section 4661(b) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. (Thus, manufacturers, producers, and importers would no longer owe the section 4661 tax on those chemicals.)