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Lawmakers should vote “yes” this week on three bills amending Clean Air Act emissions limits and environmental reviews, the NAM told the House on Monday.

What’s going on: The measures, approved in January by the House Energy and Commerce Committee thanks to NAM advocacy, would go a long way toward repairing a “broken system” that forces manufacturers to incur an annual average permitting burden of $7.9 billion, the NAM said.

• Expanding the American economy requires “responsible and commonsense modernizations to the Clean Air Act as part of comprehensive permitting reform efforts in Congress,” the NAM emphasized.

The details: The following bills are expected to come up for a vote this week:

• H.R. 6387, the Fire Improvement and Reforming Exceptional Events Act: The FIRE Act would update the Clean Air Act to ensure wildfire mitigation efforts are not held against a state when determining nonattainment status. It also requires the EPA to update its modeling, analysis, and review processes to reflect these wildfire mitigation efforts and other exceptional events.
• H.R. 6398, the Reducing and Eliminating Duplicative Environmental Regulations Act: The RED Tape Act would eliminate the mandate that the Environmental Protection Agency review a project already subject to environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act.
• H.R. 6409, the Foreign Emissions and Nonattainment Clarification for Economic Stability Act: The FENCES Act would protect manufacturing investment here in the United States by preventing emissions from outside the US from being used in calculations that determine the issuance of a permit.

Our role: The NAM has long advocated for Congress to modernize the CAA as part of the broader effort to reform the federal permitting system.

• In its latest report, “America on Hold: How Permitting Delays Stall Manufacturing Progress,” manufacturers identified CAA permits as the most burdensome approval process—underscoring one of the report’s key priorities for the administration and Congress: modernize the Clean Air Act.
• In late 2025, manufacturers called for “12 days of permitting reform” on Capitol Hill, which included the NAM’s strong push for CAA reform legislation, calling it “integral to comprehensive permitting reform so manufacturers can get shovels in the ground quicker to expand investments and jobs.”

The final say: “Congress should act now to ensure the United States can continue to grow the manufacturing economy while also preserving the historic environmental protections that the Clean Air Act was intended to address when it passed Congress over 50 years ago,” NAM Managing Vice President of Policy Charles Crain said.