HR 4781 Re-checks Congress.gov for new actions and updates the bill's status, and fills in any sponsors, committees, or related bills that are missing. It does not re-pull sponsors/cosponsors/committees/related — those rarely change — and it skips all work if nothing has changed upstream, so it's cheap to click.
To amend the FAST Act to add activities relating to the extraction, recovery, or processing of certain materials to the definition of a critical project, and for other purposes.
Summary
This bill amends the FAST Act to expand the definition of "critical projects" to include activities involving extraction, recovery, or processing of rare earth elements and carbon from coal-related sources including acid mine drainage, coal, coal waste, and coal byproducts. The bill specifies that minerals locatable under the Mining Law of 1872, as well as microfine carbon and carbon derived from coal, qualify as critical project materials. By adding these activities to the critical project definition, such projects would qualify for the streamlined federal permitting process established under the FAST Act.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
- Rep. Barr, Andy [R-KY-6] (R-KY)
17 cosponsors
- Rep. Baumgartner, Michael [R-WA-5] (R-WA)
- Rep. Bice, Stephanie I. [R-OK-5] (R-OK)
- Rep. Carter, Earl L. "Buddy" [R-GA-1] (R-GA)
- Rep. Downing, Troy [R-MT-2] (R-MT)
- Rep. Fallon, Pat [R-TX-4] (R-TX)
- Rep. Fry, Russell [R-SC-7] (R-SC)
- Rep. Goldman, Craig A. [R-TX-12] (R-TX)
- Rep. Guest, Michael [R-MS-3] (R-MS)
- Rep. Harder, Josh [D-CA-9] (D-CA)
- Rep. Harrigan, Pat [R-NC-10] (R-NC)
- Rep. Moore, Tim [R-NC-14] (R-NC)
- Rep. Nehls, Troy E. [R-TX-22] (R-TX)
- Rep. Newhouse, Dan [R-WA-4] (R-WA)
- Rep. Peters, Scott H. [D-CA-50] (D-CA)
- Rep. Rogers, Harold [R-KY-5] (R-KY)
- Rep. Schmidt, Derek [R-KS-2] (R-KS)
- Rep. Thompson, Glenn [R-PA-15] (R-PA)
Money behind the sponsor
Top reported contributors to Andy Barr’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.
- NULL $274,323
- BANC OF CALIFORNIA $60,083
- APOLLO GLOBAL MANAGEMENT $32,200
- BLACKSTONE $28,900
- WELLS FARGO $23,366
Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for Andy Barr → · Outside spending →
Actions (4)
- Feb 24, 2026 Subcommittee Hearings Held · house
- Feb 17, 2026 Referred to the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources. · house
- Jul 29, 2025 Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources. · house
- Jul 29, 2025 Introduced in House
More bills on these subjects (8)
Other bills that carry the most legislative subjects in common with this one (topical discovery — distinct from the procedural related bills above).
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Text versions (1)
Bills are re-published as they move (Introduced → Reported → Engrossed → Enrolled …). Each stage below is a separate text; pick two to see what changed. Data from Congress.gov.
Full text
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
July 29, 2025
Mr. Barr (for himself, Mr. Peters, Mr. Carter of Georgia, Mrs. Bice, Mr. Harrigan, Mr. Thompson of Pennsylvania, Mr. Fallon, Mr. Newhouse, Mr. Nehls, and Mr. Downing) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources
A BILL
To amend the FAST Act to add activities relating to the extraction, recovery, or processing of certain materials to the definition of a critical project, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Rare Earth Solutions and Carbon Utilization Enhancement Act of 2025” or the “RESCUE Act of 2025”.
SEC. 2. PERMIT PROCESS FOR PROJECTS RELATING TO EXTRACTION, RECOVERY, OR PROCESSING OF CERTAIN MATERIALS.
Section 41001(6)(A) of the FAST Act (42 U.S.C. 4370m(6)(A)) is amended—
(1) in clause (iii)(III), by striking “or” at the end;
(2) in clause (iv)(II), by striking the period at the end and inserting “; or”; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
“(v) is related to the extraction, recovery, or processing from acid mine drainage, mine tailings, coal, coal waste, coal processing waste, or pre- or post-combustion coal byproducts of—
“(I) a mineral of a kind that is locatable under the Mining Law of 1872 (30 U.S.C. 22 et seq.), including such a mineral located on lands acquired by the United States (as that term is defined in section 2 of the Mineral Leasing Act for Acquired Lands (30 U.S.C. 351));
“(II) a rare earth element; or
“(III) microfine carbon or carbon from coal.”. <all>
Comments