Democrats divided on timing for permitting reform

A group of left-leaning Senate Democrats said a vote should be put off until the White House commits to restore clean energy funding it cut. Leading Democrats are divided on whether to press forward now on a bipartisan permitting reform bill, or wait and try for more concessions after the midterm elections. A group of left-leaning Senate Democrats, echoing concerns from environmental groups, said a vote should be put off until the White House commits to restore clean energy funding it cut. And former President Joe Biden’s climate advisor John Podesta warned the bill is “a loaded Howitzer” for Trump to push through fossil fuel projects.

But Biden administration Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, and erstwhile presidential candidate Tom Steyer, urged Congress to move forward now. The bill could lead to a boost in household income, a White House study forecast, and Columbia University researchers concluded it would meaningfully accelerate the country’s electrification. “Those gains come with a cost,” the researchers nevertheless wrote, including weakening the government’s oversight powers, making environmental harms harder to reverse, and not delivering noticeable reductions in electric bills for “years after households start paying for new infrastructure.”