Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse declared Wednesday that Democrats would go nowhere near a deal to overhaul the nation’s permitting laws until the Trump administration ends its “lawless regard for congressional authority and judicial orders.”
Whitehouse’s remarks were something of a reality check at a hearing otherwise filled with kumbaya moments. Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee pledged to work “together” — a word Chair Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) emphasized several times in two hours.
Capito and Whitehouse — now the top Democrat on the committee — suggested they could come to agreement on elements of legislation to open up the country’s landmark environmental laws to build infrastructure and energy projects faster to keep pace with increased energy demand.
“Durable and implementable environmental review and permitting process reform must be bipartisan to be successful,” Capito said. “The legislation that we develop must help all types of projects, not just politically favored projects or projects that will support the infrastructure needs of some Americans but not others.”
