Political Quotes

“I want to thank Chairman Lamborn and my good friend and fellow Western Caucus member, Nevada Representative Amodei, for their work on this important legislation. Mr. Chairman, let me start by addressing why strategic minerals matter and why we ought to have a piece of legislation like this. My home State of Wyoming is the headquarters for our Nation's nuclear intercontinental ballistic missile force. These missiles ensure that those who would do us harm are deterred from using nuclear weapons. These weapons are on call 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, but they need regular maintenance and replacement components. Rare earth elements are an important part of these components--from batteries, to computer chips, to display screens and engines. These components-- components vital to our technological edge--would require elements that can be difficult to procure. Now, China controls nearly 80 percent of rare earth production. As we know, China has used this leverage to bully our allies, to limit exports at a time of a dispute, especially recently, with Japan over the control of islands in the South China Sea. The U.S. Navy plans to conduct operations in the area to remind China of the importance of respecting maritime boundaries and the freedom of navigation; but China is using its 80 percent share of rare earth minerals to leverage our allies. They can do it anytime they want because they have such massive control of this resource. The bill that Mr.…”