Senate Permitting Reform Would Help Keep America Building. It Must Pass During the Lame-Duck.

Contractors know how to meet a deadline. They know how to be flexible with the uncertainties that arise from weather, supply chain hold-ups, workforce shortages, materials prices, tariffs, high interest rates, economic pressures—the list goes on. What they cannot plan around is a moving starting line.

When permitting timelines are predictable, businesses can confidently hire workers, order materials and invest in the equipment needed to get the job done. This year, Congress has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to provide permitting certainty by passing the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act, or BAAJA.

BAAJA would address a persistent challenge for the construction industry: a federal permitting process marked by duplicative reviews, uncertain timelines and subject to prolonged litigation. These challenges make projects harder to finance, more expensive to build and more difficult to staff.

Associated Builders and Contractors represents 24,000 members, 67 chapters and millions of workers in the construction industry who depend on reliable schedules to deliver quality projects safely and efficiently. If signed into law, BAAJA would bring enormous certainty to ABC members and, in turn, value to the communities they build.

Here are simple examples: A small contractor deciding whether to purchase equipment or take on additional employees needs a reasonable understanding of when work will begin to reduce idle time. A project owner committing capital needs confidence that the permitting process will produce a timely decision and that an issued permit can be relied upon.

Greater certainty makes those investments easier to justify. It allows contractors to coordinate crews, secure materials and invest in training with a clearer view of their backlog of upcoming work. It helps control costs for taxpayers while bringing needed infrastructure into service sooner.

S. 5653 would support that predictability by improving coordination among federal agencies, reducing duplicative reviews and establishing clearer, enforceable deadlines. Its reforms to the National Environmental Policy Act, the Clean Water Act and other federal laws would also provide greater certainty that issued permits will remain in effect.

This bill would also set clearer deadlines for federal reviews. Agencies would have 60 days in most cases to determine whether an application is complete and another 60 days to identify the required NEPA review, which would be coordinated by a lead agency. Environmental assessments would generally be due within one year and environmental impact statements within two. For Clean Water Act reviews, the bill would set a one-year deadline for state water-quality certifications, with a nine-month limit for certain interstate transmission and natural gas projects. These timelines would help owners and contractors plan crews, materials and financing.

While the bill in part focuses on construction of energy transmission and development, its broader reforms would benefit other construction projects subject to federal requirements while preserving environmental safeguards. By establishing clearer rules, more predictable timelines and better coordination, the bill would help development move forward apace.

BAAJA would also reform data center development rules, sharing concepts with the ABC-supported, House-passed Ratepayer Protection Act. The bill would require data centers and other high-density computing facilities of at least 20 megawatts to cover the added costs of power generation and grid infrastructure they require, with financial assurances in place before utilities begin construction.

By making these customers responsible for incremental costs and recognizing state authority to set service conditions, the bill would help protect other ratepayers while giving utilities and developers greater clarity to plan projects. With one in six ABC members currently under contract to build a data center, policies that support responsible development while protecting ratepayers are important to the construction industry.

Estimates show that the bill could increase real wages by as much as $637 a year for the average household. That makes permitting reform pro-worker: more investment and economic growth can mean higher wages for working families.

Sens. Shelley Moore Capito, Sheldon Whitehouse, Mike Lee and Martin Heinrich deserve credit for setting aside party policy differences to reach this important bipartisan agreement.

With Democrats now preparing to wield significant influence in the 120th Congress, the prospects of reaching a permitting deal could still happen, although it may be more complicated. Lawmakers should seize the lame duck to pass BAAJA rather than allow political considerations to derail necessary progress.

If Congress fails to act, permitting reform must remain a bipartisan priority next year. Contractors and taxpayers cannot afford further delays. ABC members stand ready to build America and the necessary infrastructure to support it.

Vance Walter is the senior director of legislative and political affairs for Associated Builders and Contractors