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“In the spirit of the holiday season, we are calling for legislative action during this year-end work window to deliver a gift of a new, workable permitting system that will fuel America’s manufacturers,” NAM President and CEO Jay Timmons said in a statement this morning.  

• “Over the next 12 days, the House is primed to tackle comprehensive permitting reform, which will boost American competitiveness and unlock greater investments in manufacturing in America.”

This week’s list: This week, manufacturers are urging House members to vote “yes” on the PERMIT Act and several other crucial pieces of legislation.

• The PERMIT Act adopts the NAM’s key recommendations for modernizing the Clean Water Act—reforms that increase certainty for permittees, clarify the scope of the CWA and address bottlenecks that have delayed job-creating projects.
• Manufacturers are also calling on legislators to advance the Improving Interagency Coordination for Pipeline Reviews Act, the ePermit Act and the Electric Supply Chain Act—all of which are critical to achieving manufacturers’ vision of energy and AI dominance.

Next week’s list: Next week, the NAM-backed SPEED Act goes to a vote, while other key legislation is moving closer to that point.

• The SPEED Act is a cornerstone of “Manufacturing’s Roadmap to AI and Energy Dominance,” the NAM’s blueprint for securing America’s energy and AI leadership. By appropriately shortening environmental review timelines, limiting regulatory and legal uncertainty, expanding categorial exclusions, preventing duplicative reviews and reinforcing recent Supreme Court precedent on the scope of the National Environmental Policy Act, the SPEED Act will accelerate projects essential to meeting rising power demand and lowering energy costs.
• Meanwhile, manufacturers are also urging the Energy and Commerce Committee’s Environment Subcommittee to advance key legislation to reform the Clean Air Act. From modernizing the New Source Review and National Ambient Air Quality Standards programs to improving how the Environmental Protection Agency deals with wildfires and international emissions, the solutions offered by these bills are integral to comprehensive permitting reform.

Why it matters: Eighty percent of manufacturers say the length and complexity of the permitting process is harmful to increasing investment.

• Eighty-seven percent say they would expand operations, hire more workers or increase wages and benefits if permitting were streamlined, and 68% of manufacturers with permittable projects say they could expand more quickly with a modernized federal permitting system.

The bottom line: “Manufacturers urge policymakers to seize the moment—pass the PERMIT Act and companion bills this week and the SPEED Act next week—and make it easier and more cost-efficient for manufacturers to get shovels in the ground on job-creating projects,” said Timmons.

Checking it twice: “To turn this holiday package into real progress for the country, the Senate must take up the mantle in the new year and advance comprehensive permitting reforms that will empower manufacturers across the country to compete, invest and grow,” Timmons added.

NAM in the News: POLITICO’s Morning Energy (subscription) covered the release and the NAM’s outreach to the House and incorporated Timmons’ insights from an interview at Sen. Bill Cassidy’s (R-LA) Louisiana Energy Security Summit.