GOP's Amodei defends IRA's mining benefit

• He was one of 18 House Republicans who signed a letter in August warning Speaker Mike Johnson against a wholesale IRA repeal.

Context: Amodei's district is home to several projects backed by the DOE Loan Programs Office that went dormant under Trump 1.0 and that Republicans have urged to immediately freeze.

• The Biden administration finalized a $2.26 billion loan to the Thacker Pass lithium project and issued a $2 billion conditional commitment to Redwood Materials for a battery materials campus.

What he's saying: Trump's government-efficiency efforts will likely cut the flow of federal funding "from a 36-inch pipe to a 12-inch pipe," Amodei said.

• If Nevada is targeted for any proposed cuts to a project or company, "we're talking with the company, talking with the agency under the Trump administration, to go: 'What are we doing? Why are we doing it?'" he said.

Zoom in: He said he plans to reintroduce as soon as this week his legislation to address the Rosemont decision that limited where mining companies can operate.

• The U.S. Forest Service–focused ruling could be wielded by antimining groups against mine on any kind of public land, he said.

• "We're not gonna let that stand out there as a bat that's sitting in the bat rack, real handy for somebody to take out and go try to hit a home run or hit you over the head," he said.
• The bill passed the House in May (with nine Democrats voting in favor) but was never brought up in the Senate.

Amodei also reintroduced a bill last week to strip presidential authority to unilaterally designate national monuments and give that authority to Congress.

The bottom line: "We're approaching it on a case-by-case basis," Amodei said. "If your people are doing good stuff, and there's government dollars in it, but they're worth it, then obviously we're going to advocate for it."