FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
September 8, 2026
CONTACT:
Chrissy Harbin, Miranda Dabney
Armstrong, Peters: Congress Already Has the Common Ground to Pass Permitting Reform
REPUBLICAN SENATOR AND DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSMAN SAY CONGRESS ALREADY AGREES ON ENOUGH TO ACT
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Alan Armstrong (R-OK) and Representative Scott Peters (D-CA) are calling on Congress to seize a rare window of bipartisan agreement and pass meaningful permitting reform.
In a new joint op-ed published in American Affairs, Armstrong and Peters argue that while they represent different parties, chambers, and regions of the country, they agree on a fundamental challenge facing the United States: America has lost its ability to build.
Importantly, Armstrong and Peters argue that Congress already has substantial bipartisan agreement on how to begin fixing it. Meaningful reform should establish clear and enforceable timelines, modernize environmental review, provide certainty against endless litigation, and make it easier to build the linear infrastructure America needs—without picking political favorites between pipelines and transmission.
Their message comes as Congress faces a choice: allow longstanding disagreements over energy and environmental policy to derail another attempt at reform, or act on the significant bipartisan consensus that already exists around fixing the permitting process itself. As Armstrong and Peters write, the principles at the heart of reform—rigorous review, clear rules, accountability, reasonable deadlines, and certainty that final decisions remain final—are not partisan.
“We have a rare bipartisan window of alignment to solve this. We already agree on enough to get started. If Congress fails to act, we will fail to deliver for the American people. The market is begging to build. It is time for Congress to stop standing in our own way and get America building again.”
Read the full op-ed here in American Affairs, and see selected excerpts here:
“America has lost its ability to build.”
“Whether we are trying to produce more American energy, construct transmission lines, power the artificial intelligence revolution, strengthen manufacturing, develop critical minerals, or build affordable housing, projects are being choked by a permitting system that too often rewards delay instead of results. No longer simply an environmental or energy issue, it is an affordability problem, an economic competitiveness problem, and increasingly a national security problem.”
“Congress itself acknowledges this dysfunction. When lawmakers decide something urgently needs to be built—from affordable housing to critical infrastructure—we waive or streamline NEPA requirements without making fundamental reforms to the law. That is an admission that the underlying process needs modernization. Congress should fix the system rather than constantly invent exceptions to it.”
“We also agree that permitting reform cannot devolve into a partisan slugging match over ‘transmission vs. pipelines.’ We want a win for all linear infrastructure.”
“The principles of reform are not partisan: rigorous review, clear rules and pathways to accountability, reasonable deadlines, and confidence that final decisions will remain final without burdensome litigation.”
“We have a rare bipartisan window of alignment to solve this. We already agree on enough to get started. If Congress fails to act, we will fail to deliver for the American people. The market is begging to build. It is time for Congress to stop standing in our own way and get America building again.”