April 13, 2026 -

The halls of the building behind me are bustling this week with Congress is back with a significant amount of work to do.

We know House and Senate Republicans have until June 1 to align on tax and spending bills to fund immigration and other priorities. There’s also the issue of funding for DHS agencies that have been operating without for two months now. And there’s the White House 2027 budget request on the table. Agency heads including Energy Secretary Christ Wright will be on the Hill testifying in support of those budget requests. Amidst all of that excitement, we’ll be watching for progress on permitting reform.

Oklahoma has been selected as the site for the first new aluminum smelter in the U.S. since 1980, with construction expected to cost more than $4 billion and begin later this year. The smelter will produce up to 750,000 metric tons of aluminum a year, more than doubling the U.S.’s smelting capacity.

And looking abroad, Australia and the U.S. have committed more than 3.5 billion to back a range of critical mineral projects, double the amount that was initially announced by the countries six months ago. Looking at reports, the projects set to receive support appear to be primarily Australian focusing on minerals including rare earths, Nickel, Gallium, graphite, magnesium, tungsten, vanadium and scandium.