Coalition letter organized by Pacific Legal Foundation.
Dear Majority Leader Thune, Leader Schumer, Speaker Johnson, and Leader Jeffries:
We, the undersigned organizations, urge Congress to promptly consider and pass S. 5653, the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act (BAAJA) of 2026. As organizations committed to free markets, property rights, and energy abundance, we believe BAAJA represents a critical opportunity to modernize the federal permitting system and ensure America can build the infrastructure necessary to meet the demands of the 21st century.
For too long, energy projects and critical infrastructure have been delayed or blocked by a costly, unpredictable federal permitting system in desperate need of reform. As a result of our broken federal permitting process, it takes an average of 29 years to develop and permit a new mine in the United States, the second-longest timeline in the world. These delays prevent critical projects from moving forward, drive up costs for consumers, undermine American competitiveness, and constrain our ability to develop the energy and natural resources essential to our economic future.
BAAJA directly addresses these challenges through several key reforms to the federal permitting process, including:
- Streamlining the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA): Reaffirming NEPA’s procedural role, establishing additional guardrails for standing, shortening the statute of limitations to 150 days to provide greater certainty, and reforming judicial remedies to allow remand without vacatur for NEPA violations.
- Reforming the Clean Water Act (CWA): Promoting regulatory certainty by refocusing Section 401 certifications on water quality and ending preemptive and retroactive vetoes under the EPA Administrator’s Section 404(c) authority.
- Modernizing the Endangered Species Act (ESA): Providing states with greater flexibility to conduct Section 7 consultations and ensuring ESA determinations are grounded in the best available science.
- Advancing complementary permitting reforms: Reforming transmission policy to ensure the electric grid can meet growing demand, streamlining the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), unlocking America’s geothermal energy potential, and providing greater certainty in the mining permitting process.
Taken together, these reforms would represent the most significant modernization of the federal permitting system in a generation. By reducing unnecessary delays, increasing regulatory certainty, and removing barriers to responsible development, BAAJA would help lower costs for Americans, strengthen domestic energy production, and support the infrastructure and industries that drive economic growth.
Congress has an opportunity to deliver meaningful, bipartisan permitting reform. We urge you to seize this moment and advance BAAJA without delay to protect property rights, promote energy abundance, and restore America’s ability to build.
Sincerely,
James L. Martin
Founder/Chairman
60 Plus Association
Taylor Barkley
Director of Federal Government Affairs
Abundance Institute
Chris Barnard
President
ACC Action
Tim Chapman
President
Advancing American Freedom
Saulius “Saul” Anuzis
President
American Association of Senior Citizens
Phil Kerpen
President
American Commitment
David Ibsen
Executive Director
Americans for Free Markets
Brent Gardner
Chief Government Affairs Officer
Americans for Prosperity
Rea Hederman
Executive Director of the Economic Research Center and Vice President of Policy
The Buckeye Institute
Nick Loris
President
C3 Solutions
Lance Christensen
Vice President of Government Affairs
California Policy Center
Ryan Ellis
President
Center for a Free Economy
Darren Nelson
Policy Fellow, Energy & Natural Resources
Center of the American Experiment
James Dozier
Founding President & Board Chair
Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions
Jeremy Harrell
CEO
ClearPath Action
Andrew J. Lewis
President & CEO
Commonwealth Foundation
John Vick
Executive Director
Concerned Veterans for America
Jason Solomon
Head of Policy and Government Affairs
ConservAmerica
Craig Richardson
President
Energy & Environment Legal Institute (E&E Legal)
Emmet Penney
Director of Energy and Infrastructure
Foundation for American Innovation
Akash Chougule
President
Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity (FREOPP)
Kendall Cotton
President & CEO
Frontier Institute
Caleb Taylor
CEO
Fulcrum Foundation
Brian Norman
Director of State Affairs
Goldwater Institute
Gabriella Hoffman
Director of the Center for Energy and Conservation
Independent Women’s Voice
Dr. Bob McClure
President and CEO
James Madison Institute
Annette Olson
Chief Executive Officer
The John K. MacIver Institute for Public Policy, Inc.
Seton Motley
President
Less Government
Jason Chipman
Executive Director
Libertas Institute
Pete Sepp
President
National Taxpayers Union
Shawn Regan
Senior Fellow
Manhattan Institute
Joe Luppino-Esposito
Federal Policy Director
Pacific Legal Foundation
Daniel J. Erspamer
CEO
Pelican Institute
Tom Opdyke
Policy Director for Energy and Environment
R Street Institute
Mike Stenhouse
CEO
Rhode Island Center for Freedom & Prosperity
James Enstrom
President
Scientific Integrity Institute
David Williams
President
Taxpayers Protection Alliance
Sandra Benitez
Executive Director
The LIBRE Initiative