Sens. Joe Manchin (I-W.Va.) and Tom Carper (D-Del.) indicated that an effort to attach what has come to be known as "permitting reform" to must-pass legislation this year is dead. The pair blamed House Republicans in two separate statements.
“It’s a shame that our country is losing this monumental opportunity to advance the commonsense, bipartisan permitting reform bill that has strong support in the United States Senate,” Manchin said in a statement.
“By taking permitting off the table for this Congress, Speaker Johnson and House Republican Leadership have done a disservice to the incoming Trump Administration, which … will now be forced to operate with their hands tied behind their backs when trying to issue permits for all of the types of energy and infrastructure projects our country needs,” he added.
Carper similarly blamed the House GOP.
“Unfortunately, instead of taking real policy wins, House Republicans let their perfect be the enemy of the good,” he said in a Monday afternoon statement. “I’m extremely disappointed that House Republicans walked away from this opportunity,” he added.
For years, Republicans and Democrats have been working to find compromise legislation that they say would enable the nation to build out energy projects more quickly.
- Republicans have said they want to find a deal in order to build out fossil fuel infrastructure more quickly and shield corporations from having their projects derailed by lawsuits.
Democrats who supported an agreement have said they hope to spur a faster buildout of renewable energy and electric power, which they say is key for getting low-carbon energy online.
Other Democrats have opposed these policies, saying they will undercut environmental standards and community input — and that they generally oppose a buildout of more fossil fuel infrastructure.
Republicans did secure some of the policies they had been hoping for — particularly page and time limits on environmental analyses — as part of a deal last year to lift the debt limit. But members of both parties wanted to go further — as did leaders in the energy industry.
Manchin and Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) introduced a bill over the summer that garnered significant bipartisan buy-in in the upper chamber.
They had been discussing the bill for months with House leadership.
The comments come after key Republican negotiator Rep. Bruce Westerman (Ark.) said Friday that discussions were chugging along.
“We made progress and are still at the table working in good faith,” Westerman told The Hill in a statement at the time. “We must get this right and are still working on a handful of issues that could unlock a deal.”
Read more at TheHill.com.
