Burgess Owens

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 4795, the Protect Economic and Academic Freedom Act.

Anti-Semitism on American campuses is not a fringe problem, and it is not slowing down. Across the United States and our institutions of higher learning, we have seen a concerted and coordinated effort to isolate Jewish students and faculty.

In fact, as we have heard, the Combat Antisemitism Movement reported 531 incidents in the U.S. on college and university campuses in 2025.

I am incredibly proud of the work that the Education and Workforce Committee has done to combat the spread of this vile ideology, and American taxpayers' dollars should not go to subsidize universities that are actively singling out one of our closest allies to discriminate against them.

This isn't an issue over protests or slogans. In too many instances, this hatred has become a form of institutional discrimination supported by our colleges and universities. When that line is crossed, Congress has every right to intervene and demand that if you receive Federal dollars, there are basic standards that must be met.

I am grateful for Dr. Foxx and her leadership in this space, and I urge all of my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this measure.

Mr. Speaker, 1 year ago on September 10, 2025, the world witnessed a senseless act of political violence that took Charlie Kirk from us on a college campus in my home State of Utah.

Charlie unashamedly believed in the promise of America. At age 18, he founded Turning Point USA, built, in its own words, to promote the principles of ``freedom, free markets, and limited government,'' a movement of millions who love this country and its founding ideals.

Charlie believed that we could become a more perfect Union through conversations and spirited debates. He believed that you beat bad ideas with better ideas, not by shouting them down or resorting to violence. He was doing that the day he was killed.

Charlie is gone, but the cause he gave his life to, settling our disagreements with words and not violence, does not die with him. It lives on in the millions of young Americans who he inspired, and it will outlast whoever tried to silence it.

On behalf of Utah and all who called Charlie a friend, I ask my colleagues to join me in a moment of silence for Charlie Kirk; his wife, Erika; and their children.

May God watch over the Kirk family, and we will carry forward what he taught us: to argue with conviction, and do it without hate.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 1501, the Protecting Domestic Mining Act.

The United States of America is one of the most richly blessed nations on Earth. We have an abundance of resources and expertise and are good stewards of both.

For far too long, we have let nations that despise us control our access to critical minerals that power our economy and our military. Right now, China refines over 90 percent of the world's critical minerals. They graduate 3,000 mining engineers a year, while the United States graduates between 160 and 300. That cannot continue to happen.

This bill does something that is very simple and overdue: It makes mining and mineral processing permanently eligible for streamlined Federal permitting. Endless red tape does not protect a single acre of ground. It only protects China's monopoly and smothers American innovation before it can break ground.

This bill does not gut environmental review. It clears out the paperwork maze so we can build responsibly and build fast.

Let's be honest about who does this work best. No workforce on Earth is treated better than the American miner. No nation mines and processes minerals cleaner than we do. We should be proud to do it and do more, not be ashamed and fall further behind our adversaries.

A real mining strategy cannot change every 4 years. H.R. 1501 puts that certainty into law so American workers and American companies can excavate, invest, and build with our workers knowing there is always going to be steady, well-paying jobs that will support their families.

We have the minerals. We are rebuilding our workforce. All we need now is a government that gets out of the way.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill.