“I want this bill to pass. It changes another law to help mining projects.”
What they said. What they meant.
Plain-language translations from Congress.
Recent debates
8 latest topics
Protect Economic and Academic Freedom Act of 2026
13 statements
Moment of Silence in Honor of the 25th Anniversary of September 11
2 statements
Honoring Former U.S. Representative Charles Hatcher of Georgia
2 statements
Recognizing Firefighters from California's Third Congressional District
17 statements
Saluting White Plains Beautification Foundation
2 statements
Celebrating Rural Lawyer Julie Bear
4 statements
Operation Midway Blitz Anniversary
2 statements
Catherine Watts Celebrates 100th Birthday
4 statements
House of Representatives
Protecting Domestic Mining Act of 2025
“I want this bill to pass. It changes another law to help mining projects. We need mines. We rely on other countries for minerals. That is bad. China sells us many minerals. That is bad. We should mine here. This bill will help more mines get permits faster.”
“This bill is not needed. It solves a problem that does not exist. Projects are already eligible for FAST-41. This bill would tie the hands of administrations. It would make them use FAST-41 for all mining projects. It doesn't matter if the projects are in our national interest. We should limit coverage to critical minerals projects. We should not give this status to companies owned by foreign adversaries. Republicans won't let us make these changes. That's bad. I don't like this bill.”
“My colleague made my point for me. Obama did not use FAST-41. That shows we need this bill. Mining permits take a long time. We need our mines to produce. We should not go back and forth on this. We need a firm process. That will help companies mine in America. This bill does that.”
“I want my mining bill to pass. It will make mining permits faster. No laws are waived. The government must decide faster. We need these mines. We build many things. We need these metals. Biden made mining permits harder. That was bad. My bill will fix it. It helps mining. It stops Biden's rule. We can mine and keep the environment safe. We can review mines faster. We can mine here in America. My bill will help. I want my colleagues to support my bill.”
“I don't like that Trump put many projects in FAST-41. He put in projects that are not important. He put in projects for his friends. That made it harder for important projects. The government can't do everything. We need to focus on important projects. We need to limit FAST-41.”
“I want to block a mining bill. My amendment would have made it hard for mining projects to go fast. It said tribes have a lot of power over if a project can go fast. I'm mad that they didn't let me add that. I want tribes and people to be able to delay projects. I don't like a mining project in my district because it might hurt water. We need more studies. I want to slow down mining projects.”
“I want to slow down mining projects. I don't want them to go fast. I want tribes to have more power to stop mining projects. I say that is very important. I don't like this mining bill. I want others to vote against it too.”
“I want to make mining faster. I don't think tribes need to be consulted. I want more concrete to be made in America. I hope that will lower the cost.”
“I want this bill to help mining projects. I like that it makes it easier for them to get permits. I'm happy a copper nickel project in my district is using this. I want to make sure mining projects can keep these benefits no matter who is President.”
“This bill is not needed. We already have sand and gravel here. I think my colleagues are saying different things. I don't think this bill makes sense.”
“This bill is bad. It does not do what I want. I tried to change it but the changes were not accepted. Tribes should have a say in mining projects. The other side does not want that. A foreign company wants to mine in my district. That would be bad. I don't want to be a cheap date for foreign companies. This bill will not help American workers. I want my colleagues to oppose this bill. We should do better for Americans.”
“I want this bill to pass. It will help American businesses. American businesses should get faster permits. Some people want to slow that down. That is bad. I held a hearing about mining. Mining is important. America has many resources. We should use them. The other side wants to add rules. Those rules would slow down mining. Our bill will remove those rules. That will help businesses and workers. It will create jobs. It will help our country. I want my colleagues to vote for this bill.”
“Some groups agree with me. I want this bill to pass. I hope that their agreement will convince you.”
“I want this bill to pass. It will help my state. The government should make it easier to get permits for mining. Our country needs these resources. We should not depend on other countries. The government makes it hard to get permits. I think that is bad. This bill will make the process better. It will help the environment. It will create jobs. My state will benefit. That is good for everyone. We should pass this bill.”
“I want to cheer for the bill. The people who made the bill worked hard. Minerals are important for many things. We need them. Our country needs them. But we get them from other countries. That is bad. We should get them from our own country. We have these minerals in our own country but it is hard to get them. The government makes it hard to get permits for mining. I have seen what it looks like when we can get these minerals from our own country. It creates jobs and money in my state. This bill will make it easier to get permits for mining. That is good. It will help people invest in mines. We need to build more mines in our own country.”
“I want to talk about our bill. We should not depend on other countries for minerals. We agree on this. But we need to be careful about who gets the minerals from our public lands. We should not let foreign adversaries control our minerals. We have tried to add amendments to the bill to protect against this. But the other party keeps blocking our amendments. They don't give a good reason why. We use their own words in our amendments. But they still say no. That makes me think this bill is not really about competing with China.”
“I want this bill to pass. It helps American mining. We already have laws to stop other countries from owning our mines. This bill makes it easier for American companies to mine. The other side wants more rules that will hurt American mining. Their rules will not stop China. Our bill is better. If you support American mining and want to stop China then you should vote for our bill.”
“I want this bill to pass. It helps American mining. American mining is important. It creates jobs and money for our country. In my state, mining is very important. The government makes it hard to open new mines. We need to make it easier. The FAST-41 program was good but the Biden administration changed it. This bill will fix that. We need to support American mining and not rely on other countries. This bill will make the government work better for the people. You should vote for it.”
“You say this bill will make America less dependent on other countries for mining. But you have a bad relationship with Canada. Canada sells us many minerals. If you really want America to be less dependent, you should be nice to Canada. But you are not. So I don't think you really care about America's dependence on other countries. I think this bill is about other things.”