Republicans and Democrats remain divided on certain aspects of permitting reform for infrastructure and energy projects, but have expressed more optimism about agreement there versus spending levels;
Rep. Graves (R-LA), author of the BUILDER Act, which reforms the NEPA process and President Keith Pugh testified in support of, put the odds that permitting could be included in a final debt limit deal as “better than a 50-50”;
House committees held multiple hearings earlier this year regarding permitting reform, and Senate committees are continuing to hold hearings this week, including the Environment and Public Works Committee, which will convene a hearing on Wednesday;
The Chair of that committee, Sen. Carper (D-DE.), said he plans to release his own permit legislation before Memorial Day, which could be merged with existing proposals from House Republican passed H.R. 1, the “SPUR Act”, the “RESTART Act” from his Republican counterpart on the committee Sen. Capito (R-WV), as well as Sen. Manchin’s (D-WV) “Building American Energy Security Act”.
