The Leader’s Floor Lookout: Wednesday, February 11, 2026
Critical minerals are the backbone of modern defense, technology, clean energy, AI, and more, making them indispensable to everyday life. With global demand for critical minerals surging, securing these resources is essential for maintaining America’s competitive edge and global leadership.
Despite having abundant natural resources right here in America, excessive permitting burdens and red tape under prior administrations obstructed development of America’s natural resources, hindering U.S. mining projects and limiting access to these crucial domestic resources.
These misguided policies leave us reliant on foreign adversaries like Communist China – which dominates the world’s critical minerals processing – for our critical mineral needs, threatening America’s security and competitive edge in the 21st century. Currently, China maintains 60 percent of the world’s production of rare earth elements and 90 percent of their global processing capacity.
Today, House Republicans are bringing forward legislation to incentivize domestic production and manufacturing, strengthen our critical energy resource supply chains, build an energy-independent America, and secure our future.
H.R. 3617, the Securing America’s Critical Minerals Supply Act, sponsored by Rep. John James, unleashes domestic production and bolsters America’s critical mineral supply chain by requiring the Department of Energy (DOE) to assess and strengthen critical energy resource supply chains, reducing our reliance on foreign adversaries and enhancing our energy independence.
House Republicans won’t stop fighting to defend our energy, economic, and national security by ensuring America doesn’t have to depend on adversaries for critical minerals.
Safeguarding Undersea Cables to Bolster Connectivity and National Security
Lying on the ocean floor, undersea fiber-optic cables make up the critical foundation of global telecommunications and internet infrastructure, carrying over 95 percent of international data. They transmit information at high speeds, enabling global internet, financial transactions, and communication.
Currently, however, the permitting process to site, install, and approve these cables involves various agencies across the federal, state, and local levels, creating tedious and duplicative barriers for licensees looking to build and preserve undersea cables.
Under the National Marine Sanctuary Act (NMSA), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration authorizes 5-year Special Use Permits (SUPs) for certain activities within a national marine sanctuary, including the construction and maintenance of cables. But it often takes years to acquire SUPs, not to mention the additional burdens and costs they come with.
These cables are crucial for modern life and ensuring reliable, high-speed, and secure connectivity – restricting our ability to build and preserve undersea cables with regulatory hurdles poses a significant threat to our national security and digital economy.
House Republicans are bringing forward legislation to strengthen our national security and bolster global connectivity by cutting this burdensome red tape, streamlining the permitting process, and safeguarding America’s submarine cable infrastructure.
Rep. Buddy Carter’s legislation, H.R. 261, the Undersea Cable Protection Act, amends NMSA to block the Secretary of Commerce from prohibiting or requiring a permit for the installation, operation, maintenance, repair, or recovery of undersea fiber optic cables in a national marine sanctuary if such activities have already been authorized by federal and state agencies, getting rid of duplicative permitting laws while protecting national marine sanctuaries.
With this legislation, House Republicans are not only safeguarding our infrastructure and national security, but also securing America’s position on the world stage leading the digital economy and global communications.
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