U.S. Senators Tackle Regulation Reform with Bipartisan Legislation
If you take a drive across Pennsylvania, you’ll see the backbone of the American economy. steel mills, natural gas facilities, manufacturing plants, and small businesses that have powered our commonwealth for generations.
Pennsylvania has the resources and the entrepreneurial spirit to lead America’s next great economic expansion. There’s just one problem: Washington won’t get out of the way.
For decades, our federal permitting system has become a bureaucratic maze of endless reviews, duplicative regulations, and uncertainty. Projects that should take months to approve can take years. While Washington debates paperwork, American families are left paying the price at the pump and in their homes.
Here’s the irony: America doesn’t have a shortage of people willing to build—we have a government that makes building unnecessarily difficult.
This month, there’s reason for optimism.
A bipartisan group of senators has introduced the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act, or BAAJA, a sweeping permitting reform proposal that could fundamentally change how America builds its future. Here’s something you don’t hear very often in Washington: Republicans and Democrats agree that we have a problem worth solving.
Senators Shelley Moore Capito, Mike Lee, Sheldon Whitehouse, and Martin Heinrich have come together to tackle one of the greatest obstacles to American prosperity: our broken permitting system.
At Americans for Prosperity, we’ve been sounding the alarm on this issue for years, and we applaud these senators for doing the hard work necessary to find common ground. Permitting reform isn’t a Republican issue or a Democrat issue. It’s an American competitiveness issue.
Consider what this means for Pennsylvania: we’re sitting on some of the most abundant natural gas resources in the country. We have the skilled tradesmen and women, the manufacturing infrastructure, and the opportunity to become an energy powerhouse for generations to come.
What good are those resources if the federal government makes it nearly impossible to develop the infrastructure needed to bring them to market?
Think about the manufacturer in Pittsburgh who wants to expand operations but needs affordable, reliable electricity. Or the small business owner in northeastern Pennsylvania who’s watching energy costs eat away at their bottom line.
These are the people who suffer when Washington chooses bureaucracy over progress. That’s where BAAJA offers a better path forward.
The legislation would streamline environmental reviews, reduce unnecessary delays, modernize the permitting process, and provide greater certainty for projects that have already received approval.
It would also make it easier to build the transmission infrastructure necessary to meet America’s growing energy demand, while requiring data centers to cover the transmission costs associated with their operations.
Throughout American history, prosperity hasn’t come from government bureaucrats deciding which businesses should succeed or which industries deserve to grow. It’s come from individuals who were free to innovate, invest, and create value for others.
The railroads that connected our communities, the factories that built Pennsylvania’s middle class, and the energy revolution that transformed our commonwealth: none of those achievements happened because government made progress easy. They happened because Americans were determined to build something better, and today, we’re facing another defining moment.
As AI, advanced manufacturing, and emerging technologies transform our economy, our demand for energy is growing. The question isn’t whether America will need more infrastructure.
The question is whether we’ll allow Americans to build it.
We can continue down the path of bureaucratic delays, rising costs, and missed opportunities. Or we can embrace a future where innovation is rewarded, investment is encouraged, and government recognizes that its job isn’t to stand in the way of progress.
The Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act represents a genuine opportunity to choose that second path.
We’re urging members of both the House and Senate to come together and advance meaningful permitting reform. We cannot afford to squander this opportunity because of political gamesmanship or partisan gridlock.
Pennsylvania’s future depends on our ability to build, compete, and grow. Our nation’s future depends on ensuring that the next generation inherits an economy defined by opportunity, not government-imposed limitations.
America didn’t become the greatest engine of prosperity in human history by asking permission to innovate. We became great because we empowered people to build. It’s time Washington remembered that.
Head to ProsperityIsPossible.com to learn more about how commonsense permitting reform can unlock America’s potential.
