Legislative Update: U.S. Senate EPW Begins Debate on Permit Bill

Here is a look at the latest happenings on Capitol Hill:

U.S. Senate EPW Committee Begins Debate on Permit Bill After House Approves its Proposal

Senate Environment & Public Works (EPW) Committee Chairman Tom Carper (D-DE) during an April 26 business meeting expressed interest in pursuing a bipartisan permitting bill, outlining the priorities he requires to reach a deal that he considers successful. The meeting showcased suggestions for possible Hill action and highlighted divisions about the role of fossil fuels and whether major changes to environmental laws are necessary to speed up clean energy or other projects.

Carper called for any permitting plan to be bipartisan and do three things: result in lower emissions, support early and meaningful community engagement in projects, and provide businesses, particularly clean energy businesses, with certainty and predictability to help unlock economic growth and job creation. However, Ranking Member Shelley Moore Capito argued that a permitting bill should streamline requirements for all projects, not just a subset of clean energy projects. She called for “enforceable timelines” for environmental reviews, consequences for agencies failing to meet those timelines, and a requirement to decide legal challenges “expeditiously.”

Industry witnesses from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers offered suggestions for Congress and federal agencies.  NAM’s President Jay Timmons also called for enforceable timelines and “consolidated processes” for low-carbon technologies and a commitment to “develop” critical mineral resources under “one federal decision” permitting procedures.  He and the Chamber’s Senior Vice President of Policy Marty Durbin called for predictable and permitting policies.

The EPW hearing also showcased continuing disagreement about the extent to which legislation is needed to streamline permitting or whether the solution lies in administrative fixes or other steps. Christy Goldfuss  Executive Director of the Natural Resources Defense Council and We Act for Environmental Justice’s Senior Director of Strategy and Federal Policy Dana Johnson argued that critics have overstated NEPA’s role in blocking projects. Johnson’s reference to those figures prompted a subsequent nod from Carper near the hearing’s conclusion that appeared to underscore Carper’s reluctance to make major changes to NEPA.

During the hearing, some Democratic senators voiced skepticism about the need for permit streamlining legislation, with some suggesting that lawmakers should focus on supporting new FERC policies to speed transmission. The one area of consensus that emerged during the hearing was the importance of improving early engagement with affected communities to expedite energy or other projects.

 

House Passes Debt Limit Bill That Includes GOP Permitting and Energy Provisions

After an intense evening of late-night negotiating and tweaking their massive debt-limit bill to get GOP consensus, House Republicans on Wednesday rallied behind the measure, passing it by a 217-215 vote and handing House Speaker Kevin McCarthy a much-needed victory. Four Republicans—Reps. Ken Buck (CO), Andy Biggs (AZ), Matt Gaetz (FL), and Tim Burchett (TN)—and no Democrats voted for the Limit, Save, Grow Act of 2023 (H.R. 2811).

The bill, which seeks to force Democrats to finally negotiate conditions for raising the national debt limit, includes $4.8 trillion in deficit reduction measures married with a debt limit increase into next year.   The bill also includes the provisions of its House-passed energy bill, the Lower Energy Costs Act. (H.R. 1) aimed at supporting U.S. oil and gas companies.  Speaker McCarthy touted, “Now, the president can no longer put this economy in jeopardy. We have lifted the debt limit, we have done our job, we are the only body that passed anything,” McCarthy said.

So far, Senate Democratic Leaders have not signaled any change in their posturing that the GOP bill is a non-starter, and President Biden has threatened to veto the GOP bill, while insisting on a clean debt limit increase.  Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has not indicated whether he will bring the bill up for a vote on the Senate floor. “We think what Speaker McCarthy and the House have done is going to bring us closer to default, not further away from it,” Schumer said. “Our plan has always been the same: To avoid default, pass a clean debt ceiling — no brinksmanship, no hostage-taking.”

Key proposals in the measure include:

• Raising the debt limit by $1.5 trillion or extending it through March 2024, whichever comes first.
• Cutting and capping discretionary spending for the next ten years, starting with a $1.47 trillion topline in fiscal 2024 and allowing for a 1% annual growth over the following nine years. The first-year cap reflects a $131 billion cut from current funding levels, which spending wouldn’t catch up to until the end of the decade under the proposal. This includes a $500 million cut to EPA.
• Repealing most of the energy tax credit provisions from Democrats’ 2022 climate, tax, and health law (PL 117-169), except for some biofuel provisions Midwestern Republicans pushed to protect.
• Rescinding unobligated IRS tax enforcement and climate-related grant funds from the 2022 law and unspent COVID-19 relief from various pandemic-era aid packages.
• Canceling President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan.
• Expanding existing work requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and instituting new rules for Medicaid beneficiaries.
• Overhauling infrastructure permitting and other energy-related laws and regulations to spur more domestic production, primarily for fossil fuels.
• Requiring congressional authorization for major administration regulatory initiatives.

 

EPW Committee Advances EPA Air and Enforcement Nominees

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on April 26 voted 9-8 along party lines to advance Joe Goffman’s nomination to lead the EPA’s air office after several failed attempts in the last Congress.  Goffman faces an uncertain path to confirmation as Republicans and some Democrats have criticized the EPA’s air regulations, which they say harm the economy.  Ranking Member Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) emphasized her opposition to Goffman’s nomination due to the “misguided policy he has developed and shepherded over the years.” She pointed to the recent series of “overreaching” rules the air office has issued over the past few months and the upcoming power plant greenhouse gas rules she said has “one clear goal, to drive a stake in the coal industry and squeeze natural gas use.”

Many regulations have resulted from President Biden’s pledge to reduce GHG emissions, which has been criticized as a promise he cannot keep. Fellow Democratic West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin joins Sen. Capito in opposing EPA regulations such as the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR). With a 51-49 split Senate, Manchin’s support will be greatly needed if Goffman is to be confirmed, but the Senator is under pressure with GOP Gov. Jim Justice expected to challenge him for his Senate seat.  Based on his public statements, floor votes, and consistent defiance of his fellow Democrats, Manchin appears likely to run again in 2024.

During the same business meeting, the committee approved David Uhlmann’s nomination for the EPA enforcement pick by voice vote. This is the second time his nomination has cleared the committee.

 

Senate EPW Approve Two Recycling Bills

During the April 26 business meeting, the EPW Committee advanced by voice vote their bipartisan recycling bills focused on improving U.S. recycling and composting systems and broadly supported by plastics, packaging, recycling, business, and manufacturing industries. The two measures introduced last week by Sens. Carper, Capito, and John Boozman (R-AR) introduced two bills: the Recycling and Composting Accountability Act (S. 1194), which would improve the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) ability to gather data on our nation’s recycling systems and explore opportunities for implementing a national composting strategy, and the Recycling Infrastructure and Accessibility Act of 2023 (S. 1189), which would allow EPA to create a pilot program to improve recycling services in underserved areas.  Both bills were passed in the Senate in the last Congress.