The Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations will come to order. Without objection, the chair is authorized to declare a recess of the subcommittee at any time. The subcommittee is meeting today to hear testimony on unleashing America's mineral potential, the critical mineral commodity supply chain. Under Committee 4(f), any oral opening statements at the hearing are limited to the chairman and the ranking member. I therefore ask unanimous consent that all other members' statements be made part of the hearing record if they are submitted in accordance with Committee Rule 3.0. Without objection, so ordered. I ask unanimous consent that the following members be allowed to sit and participate in today's hearing: the gentleman from Virginia, Mr. Wittman; the gentlewoman from Wyoming, Ms. Hageman; the gentleman from Minnesota, Mr. Stauber; the gentleman from Montana, Mr. Downing; the gentleman from Ohio, Mr. Joyce; the gentleman from Utah, Mr. Owens; the gentleman from Arizona, Mr. Crane; the gentlewoman from California, Mrs. Kim; the gentlewoman from Arizona, Ms. Grijalva; the gentlewoman from Washington, Ms. Randall; and the gentlewoman from New Mexico, Ms. Stansbury. Without objection, so ordered. I now recognize myself for my opening statement. Good afternoon, everyone. I'd like to thank all our witnesses for being here today. And the value of our nation's critical mineral supply chains from mapping to manufacturing continues to increase daily, and I truly believe we cannot emphasize this enough. In fact, the very security of our nation relies heavily on a steady input of these critical and valuable minerals. Copper, which was just added to the critical minerals list this year, makes the wiring which is used in nearly all electronic devices like the phones we all rely on for our communications. Rare earth elements like niobium and other essential compounds of magnets used in the fins for the precision-guided missiles and high-performance aircraft motors powering America's F-35 stealth fighter jets. Lithium, cobalt, manganese are fundamental to rechargeable batteries that energize our drones, radios, vehicles, and radar systems. Advanced semiconductors, critical to communications hardware and radar, infrared, and thermal imaging systems could not exist without gallium. Even our military's core munitions rely on minerals like antimony, not ant-imony, but antimony. Bismuth and arsenic to function. These are just a few of the countless examples of critical minerals enabling America's national defense. And though the strength of our nation's military hinges on critical minerals, poor policy decisions over the last few decades have left us vulnerable to the supply chain manipulations as our adversaries like China have sped past the U.S. in terms of mining and processing capacity. The U.S. is largely dependent on foreign nations to meet our critical mineral needs. We import half of our supply of 20 of the 60 minerals the USGS deemed critical on last year's critical mineral list, and we are entirely reliant on the importation of 13 of these 60. China, on the other hand, exports a majority of the world's critical minerals and accounts for 85 percent of the world's mineral processing and refining. China produces 72 percent of the global refined cobalt, 98 percent of global gallium, 85 percent of the global refined rare earth elements. National security risk implications of being so reliant on an adversarial nation like China for the building blocks of our nation's defense cannot be overemphasized. And let us not forget that our discussion so far has focused on technologies essential to our military strength. America's critical mineral needs in civilian sectors are even more dramatic. This is why the Department of War's National Defense Stockpile is so essential and why President Trump's recently announced Project Vault is a step in the right direction for preparing the United States for emergency access to these essential production inputs. But despite this, we are still reliant on foreign nations to fill our strategic needs. China has used its mineral supply to manipulate the markets, attempting to box U.S. out from establishing and securing our domestic supply chain. That is why I introduced amendment number 141 to the fiscal year 2026 NDAA requiring the Secretary of War and Secretary of Interior to report on the supply of our rare earth minerals, materials, and elements extracted, processed, and refined from secure sources of supply to develop and produce advanced technologies of the Department of War. It passed the House, but unfortunately it was cut out of the conference language. To truly ensure national security, the United States needs to onshore as much mineral production and processing as possible and quickly. The risks to national security, defense readiness, and economic prosperity are too high. The first steps to doing this are by showing the mining industry that the U.S. is open for business. We need permitting certainty, we need federal investment, but we also need a faster and better way than anyone else in the world to get this done. Through executive orders like Executive Order 14154, Unleashing American's Energy, and Executive Order 14241, Immediate Measures to Increase America's Mineral Production, President Trump has utilized investment and development across the critical mineral supply chain to make America's mineral industry stronger and more resilient. Just like last week, we had a great success in my home state of Arizona. After years of frustrating delays, 31 to be exact, the Forest Service signed off on the record of decision for the Resolution Copper project and also released an errata to the final EIS, which will allow the project to move forward. But this project, which truly took decades in the making, is estimated to supply over one-quarter of America's copper needs once it is fully online, with the potential to produce up to 40 billion pounds of copper over 20 years, making Arizona once again the Copper State. This is just one of the examples of the ways we can build out America's mineral production here at home. By bolstering America's mineral security, we will ensure our national and economic security. I look forward to our conversations here today with our great witnesses about how we can work towards securing America's mineral future. Thank you, and I now recognize ranking member Dexter for her opening statement.
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