House Oversight and Government Reform Chair James Comer is probing how the Department of Defense is complying with President Donald Trump’s order to unleash deep-sea mining.
The Kentucky Republican asked Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for a staff-level briefing by July 22, and cited reports and news articles to warn that China is already trying to corner the market.
“The CCP has designs to extract and commercialize these resources — and otherwise box-out the U.S. and its allies from direct access,” wrote Comer. “The Committee seeks a staff-level briefing to understand how DOD is complying with President Trump’s executive order.”
Trump inked an executive order in April that called on federal agencies to “take immediate action” to accelerate deep-sea mining, quantify the nation’s resources and “reinvigorate” U.S. leadership in developing minerals tied to defense, infrastructure and energy.
