An overhaul of the nation’s permitting laws to accelerate energy and other projects is unlikely to be part of the Republicans’ plans to pass a major spending and policy bill along party lines in the coming weeks, a top Republican said.
House Natural Resources Chair Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) had once envisioned trying to address permitting in the budget reconciliation process. But he acknowledged late last week that procedural constraints would likely thwart efforts to advance “broad permitting reform like we were working on at the end of the last Congress.”
Still, Westerman told POLITICO’s E&E News on Friday — ahead of a meeting Saturday of House Republicans on their agenda — that the reconciliation bill would borrow from last Congress’ H.R. 1, the “Lower Energy Costs Act.”
“If you go back and look at H.R. 1 and look at the things that had a revenue impact, those are the priorities we’re looking at,” Westerman said.
House Republicans huddled away from the Capitol — and away from reporters — at a military campus in Washington on Saturday. That’s where Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said that President-elect Donald Trump wanted one “big beautiful” reconciliation package.
And Johnson over the weekend told Fox News host Maria Bartiromo he wanted that legislation on Trump’s desk by the end of April.
“Everything’s got to move in the right sequence. And along the way, I think we’re going to keep those trains moving in the right direction and on time,” Johnson said. “And if that happens, we will get it out of the House in early April — maybe as soon as April 3 — and then move it over to the Senate.”
Trump himself sounded off about the plans on social media, and invited different factions of the House GOP to his Mar-a-Lago estate to discuss the legislation and encourage unity.
“Members of Congress are getting to work on one powerful Bill that will bring our Country back, and make it greater than ever before,” Trump wrote.
“We must Secure our Border, Unleash American Energy, and Renew the Trump Tax Cuts, which were the largest in History, but we will make it even better – NO TAX ON TIPS. IT WILL ALL BE MADE UP WITH TARIFFS, AND MUCH MORE, FROM COUNTRIES THAT HAVE TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF THE U.S. FOR YEARS. Republicans must unite, and quickly deliver these Historic Victories for the American People. Get smart, tough, and send the Bill to my desk to sign as soon as possible. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
The one bill plan is a departure from what Republican leaders — particularly Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota — had announced last year. The idea was to leave tax issues, including an extension of the 2017 cuts, for later.
“We’ll disagree on the margins and the process and all that sort of thing, but when it comes to the things we need to get done for the American people, that we think move the country in the right direction, those are all things I think we agree on,” Thune told CBS’ Margaret Brennan in an interview on “Face the Nation” on Sunday morning.
Whatever the procedural strategy, energy will be a focus of the legislation. That could include repealing Democratic-led clean energy tax breaks, clawing back climate spending, some easing of environmental regulations and green-lighting new oil and gas lease sales. That as outgoing President Joe Biden prepares to block drilling on federal waters around much of the U.S., according to people familiar with the situation.
H.R. 1 did include significant permitting provisions, which Republicans have used as a negotiating starting point for talks with Democrats on the issue. Westerman said permitting action in reconciliation will be more piecemeal.
“It’s gotta be revenue driven. But that doesn’t mean that, maybe you fast-track a project in order to generate the revenue,” Westerman said.
Energy, climate as a pay-for
Republicans are eyeing the bill’s energy provisions as a major offset for its price tag — which will be large given the costs associated with the president-elect’s tax promises and border crackdown plans.
“I don’t think there’s any question that energy is going to be where we’re going to get a big pay-for,” said Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.), chair of the Republican Policy Committee.
House Budget Chair Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) also suggested the GOP “will have future meetings like this where we will unpack — where we’ll have Chairman Bruce Westerman and others unpack the possibilities of getting energy policy initiatives in reconciliation.”
Republicans last year said they were studying how Democrats had succeeded in expanding the scope of reconciliation. In general, under reconciliation, provisions that do not have a direct impact on spending or revenue are not allowed.
Arrington, however, was skeptical of how much policy the party will be able to make.
He pointed to pushing drilling in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge, a major part of the Republicans’ 2017 reconciliation bill. The Biden administration moved to cancel ensuing leases.
“You have to thread the needle a bit more on policies outside of just straight revenue plays like the tax code but we’ve done it before with ANWR and we’re going to do it again,” Arrington said.
A spokesperson for Energy and Commerce Chair Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) said about the weekend meeting, “The retreat was an opportunity to continue conversations amongst the Conference on how to achieve our reconciliation goals. Chairman Guthrie outlined possible options within the Energy and Commerce Committee’s jurisdiction, including energy, spectrum, and health care policies.”
House Agriculture Chair Glenn Thompson (R-Pa.) said Friday he would seek to protect roughly $14.5 billion in USDA conservation spending still available under the Inflation Reduction Act.
Many Republicans have sought to cannibalize those dollars for other uses or as an offset. The fight over IRA conservation money has been a major reason a new farm bill has stalled out.
Thompson’s farm bill, which he advanced through committee last year, would have removed certain climate-related guardrails for the money but otherwise kept them in conservation use.
“I think we need those investments,” Thompson said. “I’m not saying that I would support just carte blanche taking all that money into reconciliation.”
Next steps
The first step in passing a reconciliation bill will be passing a budget resolution with instructions for different committees. That resolution has not yet been introduced, but Republican leaders want to act fast.
“The Ways and Means Committee is just going to be able to draft tax legislation according to what the budget reconciliation instructions are,” said Chair Jason Smith (R-Mo.). “And so when the conference figures out what they want in the instructions, we’ll be able to deliver according to those parameters.”
Still, panels — like Natural Resources — have begun some process of drawing up legislation that could fit into the package. Westerman said aides have been on the case for months.
Republicans can pass a full budget resolution or a shell, like Democrats did when they were in power, to avoid complications and political blowback.
Thompson said of the party’s goals: “We always look for inefficiency that we can correct. We always look for fraud that we can correct. We look for, quite frankly, executive branch overreach that comes with a costly bill that we can correct.”
Reporters Kelsey Brugger, Andres Picon, Ben Leonard, Meredith Lee Hill, Daniella Diaz and Emma Dumain contributed.
