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House of Representatives

Protecting Domestic Mining Act of 2025

2026-09-02 Issue 139 Showing 21–23 of 23

Official Congressional Record ↗

Burgess Owens

Republican 2:20 p.m.

“I want this bill to pass. The government should make it easier for American businesses to mine and process minerals. Endless government tape does not protect the environment. It only helps China. This bill does not weaken environmental standards. It removes unnecessary government paperwork. American miners are treated well. No other country mines cleaner than we do. We should be proud of that and do more mining. We need a government that gets out of the way.”

Official Congressional Record

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 1501, the Protecting Domestic Mining Act. The United States of America is one of the most richly blessed nations on Earth. We have an abundance of resources and expertise and are good stewards of both. For far too long, we have let nations that despise us control our access to critical minerals that power our economy and our military. Right now, China refines over 90 percent of the world's critical minerals. They graduate 3,000 mining engineers a year, while the United States graduates between 160 and 300. That cannot continue to happen. This bill does something that is very simple and overdue: It makes mining and mineral processing permanently eligible for streamlined Federal permitting. Endless red tape does not protect a single acre of ground. It only protects China's monopoly and smothers American innovation before it can break ground. This bill does not gut environmental review. It clears out the paperwork maze so we can build responsibly and build fast. Let's be honest about who does this work best. No workforce on Earth is treated better than the American miner. No nation mines and processes minerals cleaner than we do. We should be proud to do it and do more, not be ashamed and fall further behind our adversaries. A real mining strategy cannot change every 4 years. H.R. 1501 puts that certainty into law so American workers and American companies can excavate, invest, and build with our workers knowing there is always going to be steady, well-paying jobs that will support their families. We have the minerals. We are rebuilding our workforce. All we need now is a government that gets out of the way. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

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Jared Huffman

Democrat 2:20 p.m.

“I don't want this bill to pass. I'll bring up things from five years ago to change the subject. The other side is corrupt. They are lining their pockets. They put their friends first. They claim to protect the environment. That is not true. The other side is bad. They help foreign adversaries. The government needs to spend more money. We should spend more money to lower prices. This government project is important. The other side is corrupt. This bill might let them get away with it. I don't want that to happen. That would be bad for the country.”

Official Congressional Record

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker, this administration has demonstrated that it is all too willing to abuse the tools at its disposal to promote projects that simply line the pockets of members of this administration, their family, and their oligarch pals. I will give you a few examples. Not too long ago, the Trump administration announced that it would invest over a billion dollars and take an equity stake in USA Rare Earth, a mining and manufacturing company. Reporting uncovered that USA Rare Earth hired Cantor Fitzgerald, a firm chaired by Brandon Lutnick, the son of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. How about that coincidence? Last October, the Trump administration announced equity investments in the mining company Trilogy Metals while simultaneously directing agencies to fast-track permitting for Ambler Road, the controversial project needed to access Trilogy Metals' proposed mine site. Trilogy Metals' third-largest shareholder is John Alfred Paulson, a Trump MAGA donor and economic adviser. His Trilogy shares increased by $70 million in value after that announcement. The administration is making a pattern out of picking winners and losers in the mining industry and a suspicious number of those winners have close ties to Donald Trump. These deals tie taxpayer dollars to corporate balance sheets and incentivize administration officials to prioritize individual corporate interests over the broader public good. To date, there has been no public disclosure of safeguards or procedures to ensure that these ownership stakes do not influence permitting, regulatory enforcement, contracting, and other agency decisions relating to these mining and minerals projects. Before we give this administration yet additional power to enrich themselves at the expense of everyday Americans, let's get some answers to some of these questions we have been asking about all this corruption and self-dealing. We have been talking about whether the administration should prioritize when it comes to doling out the limited capacity of the FAST-41 Permitting Council. If everything is a priority, nothing is. H.R. 1501 ties this and any future administration's hands from doing any prioritization to make sure that FAST-41 permitting is limited to critical minerals projects. This does nothing to help lower prices for Americans. It just gives gold mines or even mines owned by our foreign adversaries the same access to FAST-41 streamlining as minerals projects needed for our national or economic security interests. This ties up limited staff and resources meant to get nationally important projects built faster. It gives this corrupt administration another tool to abuse, to help their buddies get ahead. Let's be clear, even though the Permitting Council is supposed to work with any eligible project that is put forward by a sponsor, we know that that won't stop this administration from pushing to prioritize their favorite projects, which seems to be determined more and more by the President's profits than by the public interest. This is an administration that has repeatedly put pressure on agencies to do favors for their buddies, whether that is pushing the National Park Service to give part of Yosemite to a private developer or making a call to the Department of Defense to speed up a funding deal for a mining company with ties to the President's son. Why would this permitting be any different? To rein in possible abuses, we did offer commonsense amendments to limit fast-track eligibility to critical minerals projects, projects that are by definition actually critical to our national and economic security, but Republicans voted it down in committee and then blocked it from even being considered here on the House floor. Let's be clear: This legislation is not about what is best for our country. It is about giving one more of the President's favorite industries carte blanche for special treatment. Mr. Speaker, I urge opposition to this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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Bruce Westerman

Republican 2:30 p.m.

“I want this bill to pass. The government should guarantee that mining projects can happen. The other side says we don't need this bill. They say the government can already do these things. That is not the point. This bill is about the future. Mining is important for our country. This bill will make mining easier. The Permitting Council says they can handle it. They can take on more projects. This bill will help our economy and our security. We need to pass this bill to protect our country.”

Official Congressional Record

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker, in closing, this administration has sent a clear message that we must support our domestic miners and processors. This legislation isn't about our current administration. There is a bit of illogic in the minority's argument. On one hand, they say: Why do we need this legislation, because the administration already has the authority to do projects under FAST-41. They are exactly right, just as the Biden administration had authority to do projects under FAST-41. Anything this administration has been doing to permit mining projects, they can still do, whether we pass this bill today or not. This is about the future of mining in our country. This is about giving people certainty that if they go through the process to build a project, they will be able to invest and get a return on that project to supply those critical minerals and other mined products that are important to our country. It has also been said that the Permitting Council doesn't have the bandwidth to do more projects. The Permitting Council has testified that they are: ``well situated to bring in additional projects and continue to show that FAST-41 works for projects of all shapes and sizes.'' The bottom line is that supporting our mining industry is foundational to our economic and our national security. For the United States to reestablish American leadership in the mining sector, it is crucial that we pass this legislation to secure our mineral supply chains. I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 1501, the Protecting Domestic Mining Act, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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