Political Quotes

“Madam Chair, this amendment simply requires Federal agencies to certify that they have the staffing capacity to meet the new environmental timelines established under this bill. According to the Government Accountability Office, the main reason for project delays at the Federal level is a lack of agency resources and staff capacity. Thankfully, we helped address this challenge by securing $1 billion in the IRA to ensure Federal agencies have the resources and expertise to conduct efficient environmental reviews. A trained, equipped workforce is essential to processing environmental reviews in a timely fashion in cases where there are delays. Increasing the funding and staff for Federal agencies' permitting offices and agency workforce training is already making the permitting process significantly more effective and efficient in a responsible way. Unfortunately, instead of building on the progress we made in the Inflation Reduction Act and supporting agencies' capacity to conduct reviews by providing additional resources, H.R. 1 takes the more politically expedient but impractical approach of simply forcing agencies onto stricter timelines for reviews without providing additional resources for Federal agencies to conduct these reviews. By instituting these strict deadlines and limiting opportunities for community input throughout this bill, I am worried that instead of leading to more efficient project reviews and approvals, H.R.…”