Securing America's Critical Minerals Supply Act

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, at a time when American families are struggling to make ends meet, as costs for healthcare, energy, housing, education, and groceries are skyrocketing, House Republicans are wasting floor time on a bill that does absolutely nothing to provide any relief.

To make matters worse, this bill does not help Americans address the critical mineral supply. It just props up polluting fossil fuels at the expense of cheaper and cleaner energy technologies.

Critical minerals are a critical component of many modern technologies, from our cell phones to solar panels to electric vehicles. The demand for these minerals will only increase as the world continues in transition to clean energy. We must strengthen our domestic production, processing, and recycling capabilities as well as cement relationships with our allies to access new critical mineral supplies.

Democrats were in the process of doing exactly this with the bipartisan infrastructure law that included $3 billion for battery manufacturing and recycling, to build out a circular and sufficient supply chain that reuses critical minerals instead of letting them waste away in landfills. Instead of building on this important work, Republicans took a sledgehammer to these investments. Their big, ugly bill repealed vital clean energy tax credits and programs and canceled billions of dollars in projects that would have helped with critical mineral supply.

The Trump administration also shut down the Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains, the office Congress created to lead a lot of the clean energy and critical mineral supply chain work. The administration also canceled more than $700 million in battery and manufacturing grants that that office had issued.

Now, this is extremely harmful to our economy and to families' monthly power bills because the rest of the world, particularly China, is making the necessary investments in the clean energy transition. In 2022 alone, China installed roughly as much solar capacity as the rest of the world combined. China controls more than 70 percent of the world's battery manufacturing capacity.

Today we rely on imports of minerals such as cobalt, lithium, and graphite that are integral components of clean energy technology. China controls around 80 percent of the world's processing capacity for these critical minerals, posing serious national economic and energy security risks.

We should all be concerned about securing domestic critical mineral supply chains, but this bill does not solve the problem. In fact, it would only risk diluting resources away from critical mineral supply chains and toward fossil fuels.

The only mention of critical minerals in this bill starts and ends with its title. Instead, it focuses on critical energy resources, which is defined as any energy resource that is essential to the energy sector.

This overly broad language will inevitably result in additional resources spent on fossil fuels like coal and natural gas at the expense of actual critical mineral and clean energy supply chains.

With this bill, Republicans are handing the Trump administration yet another tool to prop up polluting fossil fuels at the expense of cheaper and cleaner energy technologies.

If Republicans truly want to be competitive with China, canceling clean energy projects that drive market demand is not the solution. Under Trump's watch, we have lost more than $30 billion in American manufacturing investments.

Mr. Speaker, electricity prices are rising across the country, including in my State of New Jersey. Americans are going into debt to heat their homes this winter. President Trump has failed on his day one promise to bring down prices for American families. Instead, his big, ugly bill is projected to increase electricity prices by an additional 61 percent.

Now, Mr. Speaker, I hear from my constituents every day that affordability is their top concern. Yet, today we are here debating yet another Republican energy bill that would do nothing to lower prices for Americans. Frankly, I think it is a shame.

My concern is that with this bill, Republicans continue to ignore the affordability crisis while they give the Department of Energy new authority which they will use to give more support to their oil and gas buddies.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``no,'' and I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. PALLONE. Castor), who is the ranking member of the Energy Subcommittee.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to H.R. 3617. I think it is important to provide a little perspective here. At a time when Americans are struggling to afford their electricity bills, we are wasting floor time debating a bill that will not even meaningfully improve our critical mineral supply chains.

In fact, this bill is just a retread from last Congress. That is right. The Securing America's Critical Minerals Supply Act, so-called, was included in House Republicans' polluters over people act last Congress, a bill that sold the American people out to corporate polluters.

Here we are again, debating the same old bill because Republicans have no new ideas. H.R. 3617 is merely a distraction from the fact that they have no real plans to address issues that are important to Americans, like their increasingly unaffordable electricity bills.

My Republican colleagues need to start taking the affordability crisis facing the American people seriously. Eighty million Americans are struggling to pay their utility bills. Electricity prices are rising more than twice as fast as inflation across the country. Families are having to choose between paying for housing, medicine, food, or keeping their lights on. It is just unacceptable.

As elected officials, we have a responsibility to address this issue. We must address this because hardworking Americans are in desperate need of relief.

Yet, to President Trump and his Republican accomplices, the affordability crisis is just a made-up scam. That is what the President says. I have said it before, but it is worth repeating: Republicans' big, ugly bill will raise electricity prices by a staggering 61 percent, and the American people are hurting because of President Trump's policies.

We should be focused on advancing bipartisan legislation to end this affordability crisis, not a bill that seeks to provide additional support for the fossil fuel industry under the guise of supporting critical minerals. Republicans would rather spend precious floor time on a bill to support their fossil fuel friends instead of supporting the American people.

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