A handful of Republican lawmakers appear open to working with Sen. Joe Manchin on his push for permitting reform despite tensions between the West Virginia Democrat and the GOP caucus.
Manchin has been pushing for policies that speed up the approval process for energy projects in order to build out more energy infrastructure. His last attempt ran into opposition from both Republicans — who said it didn't go far enough — and progressives, who said it could harm communities who live near the projects.
Republicans were also not inclined to help Manchin after many felt spurned by his support for the Democrats' Inflation Reduction Act. The deal was announced after Republicans backed a separate semiconductor bill.
In recent weeks, Manchin has engaged in talks with Republicans in the hopes of finding a lame-duck agreement on permitting reform.
Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) told The Hill that getting permitting reform done was "really, really, really important" and that he believed there is an appetite for it.
"Our country needs energy, all kinds of energy: oil, gas, renewables — we need critical minerals," he said. "All of those things get boxed out by a broken, dysfunctional permitting system that pretty much everybody knows is broken."
So, how are the talks going?
- He said there was "slow but steady progress being made" and that he hoped to close what he described as "loopholes" on time limits in the energy project approval process that he said were a part of Manchin's initial proposal.
- Asked whether something could come together in the next few weeks, Sullivan said: "Maybe."
What do other Republicans have to say? Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), who has in the past expressed support for Manchin's proposal given its inclusion of help for a natural gas pipeline running through their home state, similarly noted the importance of the policies to Republicans.
But, she said, "The devil's going to be in the details."
Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) also said that he and Manchin "agreed to try to work together" on the permitting issue, but appeared skeptical that it would get done in the lame-duck session.
Instead, he said a reform package could come together next year in a divided Congress split between a Democratic Senate and a GOP House.
Manchin has said that he hopes to see the legislation included in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), a must-pass military funding bill.
- But Sen. James Inhofe (Okla.), the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he was "not optimistic" about the permitting bill's chances of making it into the package.
- "My focus is to get the NDAA done," he said.
Read more about the political dynamics around permitting here.
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