Providing for Congressional Disapproval Under Chapter 8 of Title United States Code, of the Rule Submitted By the United States Fish and Wildlife Service Relating to ``Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Lesser Prairie-Chicken; Threatened Status with Section 4(D) Rule for the Northern Distinct Population Segment and Endangered Status for the Southern Distinct Population Segment''

Floor Speech

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Ms. ERNST. Madam President, the current permitting process in the United States is as outdated as that seventies' shag carpet in your grandma's house. It is true. A lot has changed since that old ``rug,'' known as the National Environmental Policy Act, was installed in 1970.

Today, the Democrats like to preach that America is ready for the green energy revolution, but the facts just don't line up. Case in point: More than 92 percent of energy projects currently backlogged in the permitting process are solar and wind projects.

Just last week in a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm promised that our DOD, Department of Defense, could make our entire military fleet electric vehicles by 2030--all of them electric by 2030, just a little under 7 years from now.

I pressed her on how in the world our Pentagon could accomplish this in that short timeframe and, frankly, why it is a top priority for our Nation's military in the first place.

Folks, right now, China--China--controls the EV supply chain. The communist regime produces about 75 percent of all lithium-ion batteries that power those electric vehicles.

Over 70 percent of the world's cobalt mining occurs in the Democratic Republic of Congo, done by child labor. The remainder of the cobalt primarily comes from CCP-owned firms. To mine all of these minerals, China relies on slave labor.

This is absolutely unacceptable. Increasing reliance on the Chinese Communist Party and supporting their malign actions is a nonstarter.

In my exchange with Secretary Granholm in this Armed Services Committee meeting, she tried to tout the President's ``Invest in America'' agenda, saying: 150 battery companies have announced they are coming or expanding to the United States to do business.

That does sound great, right?

Well, these businesses are in for a real treat. The big hand of Washington, guided by the Biden administration, is ready and waiting to prevent these businesses from actually mining, procuring, and processing minerals needed for their batteries right here at home. The problem is, right now, on average, it takes 4\1/2\ years to simply get an environmental review for a project.

When the permitting process takes longer than the actual building process, that should raise a red flag.

Let's remove the redtape. The best strategy to confront our growing energy needs is to utilize the abundance of energy-producing natural resources that our country was blessed with and encourage alternative energy production methods. By increasing the use of renewables, like homegrown Iowa biofuel, and building on the advances in energy efficiency, we have the ability to pursue an energy strategy right here in America that creates jobs, lowers costs, and reduces our dependence upon our foreign adversaries like China. New clean energy projects bring economic benefits and jobs to rural areas, including my home State of Iowa.

The Biden administration claims to ``build back better,'' but in today's reality, we simply can't build anything. It is time we pass commonsense permitting reform and get Washington bureaucrats out of the way.

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