Last week, CURE joined a coalition of 37 free market groups, led by Americans for Tax Reform, in sending a letter to members of Congress calling for passage of S.5653, the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act (BAAJA). The bill is scheduled to be considered during a post-election legislative session – colloquially known as a “lame-duck” session of Congress.
As the letter states, “the bill would lower energy costs, speed up approval of critical infrastructure projects, curb superfluous litigation, and give builders and investors the certainty they need to commit capital.”
Some of the policies in BAAJA include:
- Smarter environmental review. BAAJA narrows when a full National Environmental Policy Act review is required and what agencies must study once one begins;
- Firm timelines. BAAJA requires agencies to tell an applicant whether its application is complete within 60 days;
- Limits on the single-state veto. BAAJA reforms the Clean Water Act so that states must show a real, unresolvable water-quality concern before blocking a project, rather than using the process to stop infrastructure for unrelated reasons; and
- Litigation reform. BAAJA cuts the time to challenge a National Environmental Policy Act review from six years to 150 days.
In her nationally syndicated column this week, CURE Founder Star Parker wrote about the bill, noting: “Permitting reform is one of several issues that will be addressed in the lame-duck session. There is important work to be done, and the American people deserve a bipartisan commitment toward delivering cheaper energy, more jobs and responsible growth. We don’t want lame excuses from the lame-duck Congress. It’s time to put the election behind us and get our economy firing on all cylinders.”
