Raúl Grijalva: “This amendment says that this act cannot take effect until the Secretary certifies that the Bureau of Land Management…”

“This amendment says that this act cannot take effect until the Secretary certifies that the Bureau of Land Management and other Federal permitting agencies have sufficient staff and funding to actually comply with the deadlines established by this act. The tight deadlines in this bill are part of what has become the classic Republican permitting playbook of complaining that agencies don't move fast enough, gut their funding, and then impose deadlines impossible to achieve. If my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are going to impose these deadlines, let's make sure the agencies can actually do the work. Mr. Chair, I might add that that is exactly what Democrats did with the IRA. Democrats secured $1 billion for the Federal permitting offices so that they can do their jobs and they can do the jobs that are required by the IRA. It is already working. The Biden-Harris administration cut 6 months off from the median time it takes for agencies to complete environmental impact statements, a 16 percent time savings compared to the Trump administration. The Department of Energy has cut environmental review timelines in half, and the Department of Transportation has cut time by more than one-third. These are real permitting improvements, not wishful thinking like we have in this bill.…”