Timmons Presses for Permitting Reform on Fox Business

This morning on Fox Business, NAM President and CEO Jay Timmons spoke with host Cheryl Casone, underscoring manufacturers’ optimism—but warned that persistent headwinds demand action from policymakers now, including passage of long-overdue permitting reform.

The big picture: “You’ve got the highest optimism rate or outlook … in four years,” Timmons said, but manufacturers are still facing “headwinds,” including high energy costs due to the war with Iran and “additional costs because of tariff policy.”

• “The good news is … that we were able to get that tax reform of 2017 renewed in 2025. It was rocket fuel, as the president said at our board meeting in 2017, for the manufacturing economy. And renewing it has … given that push of optimism to manufacturers,” he added.
• However, “We have to deal with these other issues. There’s no question about that because the most important thing is obviously to reduce the cost of doing business here in the United States so that we’re more competitive.”

Why permitting reform matters: After noting the Environmental Protection Agency’s progress on regulatory reform, including in rolling back the power plant rule, Timmons emphasized that “if we’re going to actually see real progress, we have to have permitting reform because [outdated permitting laws cost] about $8 billion for manufacturers [per year].”

• “We’re very, very optimistic about the path forward on permitting reform,” he continued. “For one of the first times I can ever remember, we’ve got a bipartisan consensus with [Sens. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Mike Lee (R-UT) and Martin Heinrich (D-NM)] working around the clock to get this done. And my hope is we’re going to see some really good news this week on that, and then we’re going to be looking to the House to expeditiously get that over the line … as well.”

The importance of certainty: “When we have certainty, manufacturers can plan for the future,” Timmons said. “They can make investment decisions. They can make hiring decisions. They can plan for wage growth for their workers to make us the strongest manufacturing economy in the world.”

• Manufacturers need this certainty in many areas, Timmons continued—in permitting, in trade policy and in workforce development, so they know they will have sufficient workers for the future.

Setting national policy: “Permitting is going to be important at the federal level to try to pull together the patchwork of laws and regulations in the states, but we also need help from states and localities,” Timmons pointed out.

• “They have to expedite their processes as well. Many states are getting that right. I look at Arizona. I look at my home state of Ohio and others who figure that out. Virginia, where I’ve worked for many years, they understand it, [as well as] North Carolina and others, but some other states are not getting the message.”
• “And unfortunately, they’re probably going to be the ones that don’t benefit from that manufacturing investment. When you have a process that encourages investment, encourages manufacturers to hire people in the communities, that’s where manufacturers are going to invest.”

The last word: “Eighty percent of manufacturers say that if they get this law passed, they’re willing to invest and they’re willing to hire,” Timmons concluded. “And that’s what Sens. Capito, Whitehouse, Lee and Heinrich all understand.”

• “That’s why we’re so excited. I mean, you’ve got two Democrats, two Republicans, they’re working on this. I think we can get it done.”