Republican leaders on Tuesday managed to flip a group of hard-line conservatives and offshore wind antagonists who were threatening to block a big GOP permitting bill from reaching the floor.
In the end, just two holdouts — Reps. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) and Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) — voted against taking up the “SPEED Act,” H.R. 4776 from House Natural Resources Chair Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.). At one point, six Republicans had voted “no,” enough for the bill to stall.
House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris (R-Md.) said lawmakers struck an agreement on how the legislation would treat existing offshore wind projects. The details of the agreement remain murky.
“We’re trying to protect the Trump administration remands,” he said, referring to the administration’s ability to rescind or halt projects that already have approvals.
Harris suggested the fix would involve going back to the Rules Committee and changing the effective date of language meant to protect already-issued permits.
Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-N.J.) — who also flipped his vote from “no” to “yes” — said the fix would involve “that very important language so that we can go back and show that these wind projects were rushed through. That the permitting wasn’t proper. That they didn’t take into account the fishing industry, the tourism industry, the environment and the ratepayer — all that they can go through that process and look at that project.”
The agreement came after House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) and Westerman huddled with holdouts. Westerman had said he was against making any major changes to the bill.
Reporters Amelia Davidson and Nico Portuondo contributed.
