To the Members of the U.S. House of Representatives:
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce strongly supports H.R. 3617, the Securing America's Critical Minerals Supply Act introduced by Rep. John James. If enacted, this legislation would help the U.S. secure its critical mineral supply chain, reduce its dependence on foreign resources, and become energy and resource dominant.
Rapid increases in demand for critical minerals and materials are driven by the growing deployment of artificial intelligence, widespread electrification of the economy, reshoring manufacturing, and growing energy demand at home and overseas. Congress must ensure that our critical mineral supply chain is secure, growing, and not dependent on any single foreign source. H.R. 3617 would help achieve those goals by requiring the Secretary of Energy to conduct an ongoing assessment of the nation’s supply of critical energy resources and strengthen critical energy resource supply chains by diversifying sourcing and increasing domestic production, refining, and processing of resources. It would also expand the definition of “critical energy resource” to avoid excluding vital resources from efforts to secure our energy and national security.
The Chamber commends the leadership of Rep. James and the House Energy and Commerce Committee on this important issue and we encourage the House to approve this legislation as part of bipartisan efforts to secure our domestic critical minerals supply chain.
Sincerely,
Marty Durbin
Senior Vice President, Policy
President, Global Energy Institute
U.S. Chamber of Commerce
