Bruce Westerman: “As much as I appreciate Mr. Levin and his real sincerity and work on the committee, on this bill, and his expertise in…”

“As much as I appreciate Mr. Levin and his real sincerity and work on the committee, on this bill, and his expertise in this area, I must oppose this amendment tonight and hope to work with him on some additional legislation in the future. This amendment would strike all of the provisions in division B that increase domestic energy production and reduce energy costs for American families. This amendment prevents division B from going into effect until all of the Federal agencies impacted certify that they have adequate funding and staffing to meet the timelines in the bill. In response, I ask a simple question: When has a Federal bureaucracy ever felt it has enough staff on its payroll or enough taxpayer dollars to spend in its budget? The answer is never, at least not as long as I have been in Congress and I have talked to Federal agencies. Even with the spending push by the Democrats in the so-called Inflation Reduction Act--they have stated several times during the debate on H.R. 1 that they have put a billion dollars out there to speed up permitting--these Federal agencies are still asking for more money and more staff, and permitting timelines are still ballooning. Why? Because the issue is not an issue of staffing or budget alone. The underlying statutes and the processes are broken, and they must be fixed. That is what H.R. 1 does. It addresses the underlying issues, and it will expedite permitting for all kinds of projects.…”