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Washington, D.C. – Defending legislation he cosponsored to improve domestic development of strategic and critical minerals – used for economic and national security – Alaska Congressman Don Young today took to the House floor to support the passage of H.R. 1937, the National Strategic and Critical Minerals Production Act of 2015.

Congressman Young speaking on the House floor in favor on H.R. 1937, the National Strategic and Critical Minerals Production Act of 2015 (click here to watch).

“I’m thinking of the United States of America and how we’re importing these minerals –31 known minerals – and the process in which we have to go through to mine our own minerals in our great nation. [The federal permitting process] impedes our capability to be secure, regardless of what one might say.  You just don’t do this overnight. You have to have time to develop, especially the rare earths. And the rest of the minerals we’re importing, using outside people and countries to import those products that we live with. Yet, we have people in this Congress and across this nation that say, “Oh we don't need it…”

“We cannot continue to import all with which we need to have the lifestyle we have today. Yet, that’s what a lot of that side of the aisle insists upon. This is a good bill. [The sponsor] thought about this bill, about how we retain our national security and how we keep jobs within the United States.  His comment, the comment about ‘being made in the United States by resources, mined in the United States,’ that's what we should be looking at in this Congress, instead of following what I call the blind piper. ‘We don't need to drill our oil; we'll bring it from abroad. We don't need to mine our minerals; we’ll buy it from abroad.  By the way, we'll ship our jobs overseas and put us further in debt – $18 trillion.’”

“We need our resources. That's what made this nation great. Everything in this room, these hallowed halls, this body came from the earth. It was mined. It was cut. It was manufactured from the earth. Why should we buy it from abroad? Let's be American. Let’s mine for our resources, let’s cut our trees for resources and build our resources. Let us use our resources God has given for the benefit of mankind.”

H.R. 1937 works to addresses lengthy permitting timelines and delays facing domestic mining projects. In the 2012 and 2013 reports, the United States ranked last with Papua New Guinea (among twenty-five major mining countries) in permitting delays.

Rare-earth elements and rare metals are used daily in numerous telecommunication systems, military technologies, health-care technologies, and conventional and renewable energy technologies.