WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman Roger Williams (R-TX), Chairman of the House Committee on Small Business, held a hearing titled, “Securing America's Mineral Future: Unlocking the Economic Value Beneath Our Feet” to examine the economic potential of harnessing domestic rare earth minerals and the opportunities they present for American small businesses.

“America relies on small business innovation to secure supply chains, boost our economy, and safeguard our nation,” said Chairman Williams. “President Trump’s Executive Orders and commitment to unleashing the domestic production of rare earth minerals gives American small businesses access to the critical materials they need to provide our defense industry with groundbreaking technology. It is imperative that we continue to bolster production to protect our homeland, secure our supply chains, and allow small businesses to compete in the global market.”

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Watch the full hearing here.

Below are some key excerpts from today’s hearing:

Rep. Alford: “Mr. Kaye, critical minerals are not only essential for the long-term economic success of the U.S. but also for its national security. Could you please explain the importance of the resources in your mines to our national security, sir?” Mr. Kaye: “We spoke about gallium. Gallium is critical. There is no supply here in the United States. The Chinese have embargoed it. Our gallium is in a very pure, mineralized form found in the carbonatites themselves, which means it’s relatively easy to bring them out and properly refine them. Samarium: there’s no supply here in the United States, and so we have the same situation with that. Third is our government understands now—particularly the Department of Defense, and the reason that General Townsend has become an advisor to us is exactly that reason. He understands what the problems are. He understands what national defense means. The Chinese are betting that we’re going to keep slow like we have been, but that’s not going to happen anymore. We believe that the 17 rare earths and critical minerals that are important to all aspects—artificial intelligence, chips, new radar, new aircrafts, new ships, new technologies leading to the future—have to be domestically sourced. We and our colleagues are determined to make that happen. Our attitude now, these days, is while we are all friendly competitors, we are all Americans.”

Rep. Meuser: “Mr. Mushinski, I’m going to ask you about the type of tax credits, incentives, regulatory reform, some of your thoughts on what we need to do to springboard and blast off, if you will, or at least get off the ground.”  Mr. Mushinski: “For me and for RER, and I assume the other businesses here, it’s market stability that is important. We have tried to start up businesses before, and the Chinese are very aware. The Chinese are very smart people. They can flood the market and deplete prices and could drive us out of business. You will recall that even MP, Mountain Pass, at the time was driven into bankruptcy by that exact point. So, I agree, a strategic stockpile is important. This is a nascent industry in the United States. The companies here—mine included—need a foothold. We’re not looking for the government to give us a complete hand out. We need a foothold so that we can get investors, so that we can have bankable contracts, so that we can go to capital and have a business plan that they don’t have to be concerned about market manipulation.”

Rep. Finstad: “My constituents would rather rely on our neighbors in Northern Minnesota—heck, even Nebraska—to extract and refine these minerals for our domestic supply chain. We trust our neighbors. We can have a healthy discussion about environmental standards, labor standards, and then we can, through our government and through our policy and through our process, make sure those standards are met. We can do that face to face, neighbor to neighbor. Given your experience operating and innovating in this space, what are the biggest challenges preventing American companies, right now, from leading the world in critical mineral development? A lot of times we, in this Committee, you know people will come and say: well, it’s the regulations or it’s this or it’s that. If you were to leave here today and say: I got this off my chest. Here’s the four or five things that this committee and this Congress can help us do. What is it?” Mr. Dowd:  “You know it’s as I said earlier, China 35 years ago said that rare earths are to China what oil is to the Middle East. That’s before this electrified world we live in today. We’re literally in the infancy of this industry—was referenced perhaps as a Rockefeller moment, where this is oil a hundred years ago. I think that’s absolutely true. China controls this industry, one because they made it a deliberate policy. But two: the Chinese government subsidizes the industry, so there’s no ability for this country to be able to compete on level ground if our government is not also part of that equation.”

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