GOP to Force Democrats to Vote on Federal Permitting Reform

Senate Republicans will force Democrats to vote on federal permitting reforms, one of Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-WV) conditions for supporting the deal for spending hundreds of billions of dollars on climate and healthcare programs.

Republicans said Tuesday they will force Democrats to vote on a Congressional Review Act resolution, introduced by Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) last month, that would disapprove of the Biden Council on Environmental Quality’s rollback of Trump reforms to the National Environmental Policy Act. The lawmakers say the Biden White House’s implementation will add more red tape to an already lengthy review and permitting process for infrastructure projects at a time when both parties agree on the need for more energy projects and transmission lines.

Some environmental groups and liberal Democrats have expressed wariness or outright opposition toward liberalizing the permitting process, especially where it would enable more oil and gas projects to move forward.

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“The president touts as one of his biggest achievements the bipartisan infrastructure bill that a number of us supported last fall, and then they come up with a [National Environmental Policy Act] rule that undoubtedly will make it harder to deploy the capital to build infrastructure,” Sullivan said on Tuesday.

Under the Congressional Review Act, a joint resolution of disapproval requires only a simple majority to pass, and any senator can bring it to the floor, meaning Majority Leader Chuck Schumer could not prevent his members from having to go on the record. Sullivan’s office said the vote could happen as soon as this week.

“Show us your commitment on how serious you are with a ‘yes’ vote on the [Congressional Review Act],” Sullivan said, addressing Democrats.

The White House issued its final rule on National Environmental Policy Act implementation in April, which in part directs agencies overseeing environmental reviews to consider the direct, indirect, and cumulative impacts of a given project on the environment, whereas the Trump rule limited the scope to “reasonably foreseeable” impacts.

Council on Environmental Quality Chairwoman Brenda Mallory said the rule would fill “holes” in the environmental review process that the previous administration created and would ensure that projects “get built right the first time.” Numerous projects have been delayed and held up in the courts where judges rule that agencies failed National Environmental Policy Act obligations by failing to sweep widely enough when considering the impacts of a given action.

The Republican members criticized the rule change, arguing it will slow the permitting and construction of projects of all types, from roads to renewable energy projects and power transmission lines.

Sullivan said the White House is “at war with itself” between its environmental regulations and its support for more project building.

The Trump-era rule also put into place “presumptive time limits” for agencies to conclude environmental assessments within one year and environmental impact statements within two years. Although the rule was revoked, both of those targets were included in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, or the bipartisan infrastructure law, that Congress passed last year.

Republicans’ campaign coincides with Democratic leadership’s effort to finalize and pass the Democrat-only legislative package announced by Manchin and Schumer last week.

As part of the deal, Congress will take up “comprehensive permitting reform” next, according to an announcement from leadership. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) said a vote on Sullivan’s resolution would put Democrats on the record.

“This is absolutely perfectly timed as a test vote, a test vote of the commitment [that] supposedly we’re given as to what kind of permitting reform or how serious that effort is,” Capito said Tuesday.

Manchin’s office put out a list of provisions being contemplated as part of permitting reform, which would ostensibly harden the two-year limit for reviews and require the president to designate a list of infrastructure projects deemed to be of “strategic national importance.” That would include green energy projects, as well as electric transmission and fossil fuel projects, according to the list.

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Manchin said in announcing support for the reconciliation deal that President Joe Biden, Schumer, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are on board with permitting reform, and some rank-and-file Democrats have been supportive of reforms.