Senate negotiators are punting their target — again — on reaching a long-elusive bipartisan energy permitting overhaul, confirming talks will drag out beyond the August recess and into the heart of midterm election campaign season.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), ranking member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, told POLITICO that negotiators are aiming to strike a deal in September, when the upper chamber will return from a planned five-week recess.
Whitehouse was emerging from a meeting Tuesday afternoon with fellow negotiators EPW Chair Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Energy and Natural Resources Chair Mike Lee (R-Utah) and ranking member Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.).
Whitehouse, Capito and Lee separately confirmed to POLITICO that the meeting took place, which came after several weeks of intense staff-level talks, a sign that major outstanding issues are being elevated.
