Both the House and Senate are back to work for a full week this week and there's one thing all seem to agree on: the need to make progress on permitting reform. During the shutdown, lawmakers continued to discuss legislation that could address longstanding permitting issues.

First up? This week there will be a markup of the "Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development – or Speed Act," which would set firmer deadlines within the NEPA process and reduce the judicial review timelines.

Moving to the administration, the Department of Energy Friday announced $355 million for two notices of funding opportunities issued by DOE's Office of Fossil Energy to expand domestic production of critical materials essential for advancing U.S. energy production, manufacturing, transportation and national defense. The first funding opportunity provides up to $275 million for American industrial facilities capable of producing minerals from existing industrial and coal byproducts. The second provides up to $80 million to establish Mine of the Future proving grounds for real-world testing of next-generation mining technologies.

Finally, looking abroad, the US hopes to have a rare earths deal with China done by Thanksgiving, according to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Recall that the US and China announced a framework agreement last month, with Washington agreeing not to impose 100 per cent tariffs on Chinese imports in turn for access to rare earths minerals and magnets.