[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 126 (Thursday, July 28, 2022)]
[House]
[Pages H7400-H7401]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 INCLUDING CERTAIN COMPUTER-RELATED PROJECTS IN THE FEDERAL PERMITTING 
                PROGRAM UNDER TITLE XLI OF THE FAST ACT

  Mr. COSTA. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill 
(S. 3451) to include certain computer-related projects in the Federal 
permitting program under title XLI of the FAST Act, and for other 
purposes.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                                S. 3451

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. FEDERAL PERMITTING IMPROVEMENT.

       Section 41001(6)(A) of the FAST Act (42 U.S.C. 4370m(6)(A)) 
     is amended, in the matter preceding clause (i), by inserting 
     ``semiconductors, artificial intelligence and machine 
     learning, high-performance computing and advanced computer 
     hardware and software, quantum information science and 
     technology, data storage and data management, 
     cybersecurity,'' after ``manufacturing,''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Costa) and the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Westerman) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California.


                             General Leave

  Mr. COSTA. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from California?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. COSTA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, this is a commonsense bill that I believe has bipartisan 
support involving the construction of chip manufacturing and other 
computer-related manufacturing rights here in the United States. 
Obviously, this is a big effort that has been ongoing in Congress for 
some time.
  The bill here simply adds key national security-related technologies, 
like semiconductors, to the types of projects that are eligible for an 
existing Federal program that improves the coordination between Federal 
departments on permitting. We oftentimes, as we know, have difficulty 
in getting the permitting process to work, and it creates delays in 
process. It not only takes time, but it increases costs. So this is an 
effort to try to address that.
  The bill passed the Senate unanimously back in January. Sending this 
bill to the President will build on the progress we are already making 
today with the CHIPS and Science Act.
  Both bills are critical to America leading in manufacturing of chips. 
We know that it is the future of the 21st century economy that creates 
good jobs and ensures our competitiveness in the global economy that we 
live in.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge the House's adoption of this bill, and I reserve 
the balance of my time.
  Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I, too, rise in support of S. 3451. However, when we 
start sacrificing regular order to score political points, we are on an 
extremely slippery slope. Unfortunately, that is the course this bill 
sets us on.
  It didn't move through the Committee on Natural Resources, the 
committee of jurisdiction. Instead, it was one of the many promises 
made by Democrat leadership to secure the votes they needed in the 
Senate to pass the CHIPS-Plus Act.
  The irony of this, Mr. Speaker, is yesterday we were in an all-day 
long markup in the Natural Resources Committee on Chairman Grijalva's 
Environmental Justice for All Act, which is a bill that really doubles 
down on NEPA regulations. Obviously, we have differences of opinion on 
that, but we were having the debate. Democrats wanted to increase NEPA 
regulations, Republicans wanted to streamline regulations.
  So you can imagine the shock when Chairman Grijalva's staff, almost 
simultaneously with my staff, told us to be prepared tomorrow afternoon 
because there is going to be a NEPA streamlining bill on the suspension 
calendar.
  When I was told the bill was being added, I thought to myself, this 
bill didn't go through regular order, and this is something my 
colleagues across the aisle would normally really be opposed to. So I 
Googled the bill, and it turns out that S. 3451 is but a bargaining 
chip in the larger CHIPS debate.

[[Page H7401]]

  This is what I found on the internet. It said, ``From yesterday's 
Roll Call, as they reported on the CHIPS-Plus package.'' A quote from 
that is: ``One of the Republicans who voted for the bill . . . had 
sought an amendment to fast track the permitting process for companies 
building semiconductor plants . . . instead he was promised that the 
House would clear his Senate-passed bill.''
  This legislation, S. 3451, provides modest permit streamlining to 
expedite reviews of infrastructure projects concerning semiconductors, 
artificial intelligence and machine learning, high-performance 
computing and advanced computer hardware and software, quantum 
information science and technology, data storage, and data management, 
or cybersecurity.

                              {time}  1645

  Mr. Speaker, I strongly support streamlining. In fact, for the last 
18 months, Republicans on the Committee on Natural Resources have been 
calling to move legislation that would streamline the onerous NEPA 
process, cut bureaucratic red tape, and fight back against 
environmental activist litigants, the kinds of meaningful actions 
Congress needs to take to move our country forward.
  I woke up this morning, and I was reading online my local newspaper 
back home. There was actually a story about the CHIPS Act that talked 
about this very bill that we have on the suspension calendar today. I 
found it interesting that someone from the Sierra Club was interviewed 
about it.
  Now, normally if you are going to streamline NEPA, it sets Sierra 
Club's hair on fire, and they are calling all of their activists and 
putting alerts out. But it was interesting that on this one, the Sierra 
Club was going to study the text a little bit more, even though we are 
here this afternoon passing this on suspension.
  These commonsense Republican solutions are crucial to improving the 
health of our Federal lands, repairing our crumbling infrastructure, 
constructing water storage projects needed to make our Western 
communities more resilient to drought, and developing America's 
domestic resources to secure our supply chain and our country.
  In response, Democrats have repeatedly told us we were gutting 
bedrock environmental laws, and that we support pillaging the land from 
sea to shining sea.
  Just yesterday, I spent, as I mentioned, over 10 hours in a Committee 
on Natural Resources markup where the Democrats advanced a bill--we not 
only debated it; we marked it up and advanced it--a bill to expand 
NEPA, create more burdensome red tape, and handcuff our great Nation 
from future development.
  Now, today, after years of committee Republicans hearing how we are 
trying to destroy America, suddenly the exact same commonsense 
streamlining and reasonable sideboards on frivolous litigation are 
necessary to build semiconductor plants and America's future.
  This bill is only part of the solution. While building domestic chip 
manufacturing facilities is important and we want to bring those jobs 
to the United States for American workers, the reality is there is not 
much domestic about a chip made with 100 percent foreign materials.
  For instance, today, the United States is 100 percent reliant on 
other countries to meet our demand for gallium and indium, both of 
which are needed in semiconductors. China is the lead supplier for 
both.
  Semiconductors also require a mineral called bismuth, 90 percent of 
which the U.S. imports. Again, China is the lead supplier to the U.S. 
of bismuth.
  Semiconductors are among dozens of high-tech commodities, such as 
satellites, electric vehicles, and missile defense systems reliant on 
mineral resources to function. China unquestionably controls the market 
on nearly every one of the necessary minerals.
  If we truly want to secure the supply chain for semiconductors and 
the huge array of other products dependent on critical minerals, it is 
imperative to ensure a robust domestic mining industry through an 
efficient, predictable mine permitting system here in the United 
States.
  While the bill before us is a step in the right direction, it does 
not address the supply chain necessary to build our domestic high-tech 
manufacturing technology.
  Republicans have the solutions. To name a few: H.R. 2604, the 
Accessing America's Critical Mineral Act, introduced by Congressman 
Pete Stauber, reforms onerous and duplicative steps in the critical 
mineral permitting process by requiring Federal agencies to adhere to 
timelines and improve coordination.
  H.R. 2637, the American Critical Minerals Independence Act, 
introduced by Congressmen   Michael Waltz and Paul Gosar, invests in 
recycling technologies and innovative mining and processing techniques, 
streamlines the permitting of critical minerals production, and 
requires that agencies analyze the mineral potential of Federal lands.
  If Democrats were serious about streamlining and promoting a robust 
domestic manufacturing sector for semiconductors and other high-tech 
applications, they would be bringing these bills and others to the 
floor.
  Mr. Speaker, S. 3451 is a modest step in the right direction, and I 
support the passage of this bill. Now that it appears Democrats have 
seen the error of their ways and they suddenly have done a 180 on 
streamlining environmental bureaucracy, I look forward to working with 
each and every Member who votes for this bill to advance many other 
Republican solutions to further address streamlining and secure a 
robust domestic critical minerals supply chain.
  Unfortunately, while I would like to say that, with Democrats' 
newfound support of streamlining, the remaining Republican solutions 
will be coming to the floor quickly, something tells me Democrats' 
willingness to ignore environmental extremists and bring up commonsense 
policy solutions like S. 3451 has a lot more to do with politics than 
making good policy.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption of this bill, and I reserve the balance 
of my time.
  Mr. COSTA. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption of this bill, and I yield 
back the balance of my time.
  Mr. COSTA. Mr. Speaker, clearly, I think there is an agreement that 
America needs to increase its production of critical minerals for the 
economy of the 21st century. I think oftentimes there are differences 
on how we establish a framework and a goal in terms of the production 
of those critical minerals.
  I think that there is support on both sides of the aisle for 
streamlining the permitting process that is reflected in this bill, 
and, clearly, I appreciate the efforts and the comments of my 
colleague, the gentleman from Arkansas. Obviously, we have more work to 
do, and this is a good bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge the House's adoption, and I yield the balance of 
my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Costa) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, S. 3451.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Mr. NORMAN. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further 
proceedings on this motion will be postponed.

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