I agree with the Chairman that we absolutely have to address our critical minerals issues.

Space mining, if it does transpire, is not in the immediate future.

There are legitimate questions here, public policy questions about where we spend our money in the near term and the long term.

I am a huge proponent of Federal R&D to help support economic growth and opportunity.

if we don't take immediate action, literally right now, in the next several years, we are not going to have a planet to live on.

Should we be spending millions, billions of dollars to pursue R&D to subsidize private companies who are going to go then and capture those resources and use them for their own profits?

Our role is to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars.

As we all know, our national parks play an essential role in preserving our most treasured landscapes, our cultural landscapes, our historic, natural, and cultural resources.

The economic impact shouldn't really be involved here, this is more important.

Just 2 weeks ago, we had a hearing on a bipartisan veterans bill that myself and Representative Ciscomani have introduced to actually increase access for our veterans and disabled individuals in our community to our national parks.

For us in New Mexico, our public lands are Indigenous lands. They are the historic lands of our communities.

It is very important for us that our communities have a seat at the table in any kind of consultation regarding our national parks.