Permitting reform proved to be a major sticking point during deliberations. Although some reform provisions wound up in the final debt ceiling agreement, McCarthy contends that there's more to do."We will continue working with [the White House] and with Democrats across the way because we need energy — all forms of energy, especially for our grid to double in the next future. And so we made a commitment that we're not stopping now. And that would also deal with transmission.
"This for the first time in over four decades does transformational changes into the permitting and environmental review process today. It takes over seven years to get a NEPA and environmental analysis for road projects. We've narrowed that down to one to two years in this bill," Graves said during a presser.
Additionally, some types of energy storage that had been left out of Title 41 of the FAST Act to modernize the review process, will now be added, according to Graves, though he did not immediately specify which ones. White House officials provided Democrats with a rundown of how they interpreted the permitting agreement.
"Deficit reduction isn’t even my most important issue. But we didn’t get permitting reform. We didn’t get border security. It’s not entirely clear we got anything," Sen. J.D. Vance tweeted.