Discussion · House of Representatives
Jared Huffman Democrat
“I oppose this bill. It speeds up reviews for all kinds of mining instead of focusing on critical minerals. The council handling these reviews does not have the money or staff to do everything. Taking on too many projects slows down the ones our country actually needs.”
“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. The chairman has touted the number of projects added to FAST-41 under the Trump administration. Therein lies the problem. Many of those projects are not critical minerals. The Permitting Council only has so much budget, only so many resources in order to administer this FAST-41 process. When you throw the door wide open to any old sand, gravel, gold mining project, when you invite in projects that might just have investments from the President’s sons or Secretary Lutnick’s family or your Mar-a-Lago oligarch pals, when the door is widened in that way and there is no new resources for the Permitting Council, then actual critical minerals projects and projects that are actually important to our competitiveness and our national security suffer. They go more slowly. They get less attention. The Chair is actually making our point. We need to allow prioritization and focus so that this FAST-41 process can actually work as it was intended to work. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Arizona (Mrs. Grijalva).”
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. The chairman has touted the number of projects added to FAST-41 under the Trump administration. Therein lies the problem. Many of those projects are not critical minerals. The Permitting Council only has so much budget, only so many resources in order to administer this FAST-41 process. When you throw the door wide open to any old sand, gravel, gold mining project, when you invite in projects that might just have investments from the President’s sons or Secretary Lutnick’s family or your Mar-a-Lago oligarch pals, when the door is widened in that way and there is no new resources for the Permitting Council, then actual critical minerals projects and projects that are actually important to our competitiveness and our national security suffer. They go more slowly. They get less attention. The Chair is actually making our point. We need to allow prioritization and focus so that this FAST-41 process can actually work as it was intended to work. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Arizona (Mrs. Grijalva).