Senator Alan Armstrong (R-OK) praised Chairman Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) and Chairman Mike Lee (R-UT), along with Ranking Members Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Martin Heinrich (R-NM), for reaching a historic, bipartisan deal on the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act of 2026, saying the proposal incorporates key reforms he has championed to make the federal permitting process faster, more predictable, and more durable.
“I came to the Senate determined to help America build again, and I have been willing to work with anyone—Republican or Democrat—who is serious about fixing our broken permitting system,” said Armstrong in a statement released after the deal was struck.
“I applaud my colleagues in Congress on both sides of the aisle and the Trump administration for staying at the table and finding common ground. This agreement shows that comprehensive permitting reform is possible. Let’s finish the job when we come back in November and get this package to the President’s desk.”
He said the compromise doesn’t mean any surrendering of his principles or lowering standards.
“—this agreement reflects a massive, cross-sector coalition that has hit the exact same regulatory wall. From conventional energy and manufacturing to mining, electric transmission, transportation, and renewables, industries across our economy are pounding the table together because they recognize that if America is going to compete globally, we have to restore our ability to build.”
As Canary Media reported, the bill could greatly expand power line construction across the country.
The bill would order the country’s regional grid operators and utilities to streamline how power lines are planned and permitted. It would require the use of advanced transmission technologies that can expand the capacity of new and existing grids.
It would give state and federal regulators tighter oversight over less efficient local transmission planning. And it would require grid operators and utilities to coordinate grid buildouts to enable more new power plants, solar and wind farms, batteries, and other resources to serve growing demand for electricity.
“If Congress wanted to expand and de-congest the nation’s transmission grid, these are the policy changes that can get that done,” said Rob Gramlich, president of consultancy Grid Strategies and a longtime proponent of transmission grid reform. “It is very likely that this bill, if passed, would reduce consumer utility bills over time as the transmission system expands and access to low-cost generation improves.”
That view is backed up by analysis commissioned by the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, a nonprofit research organization, which studied the impact of the bill’s reforms on four major grid regions — from the mid-Atlantic coast to the California border — that provide electricity to more than half the country.
Senator Armstrong has made comprehensive permitting reform a central legislative priority since taking office in March 2026. He introduced S. 4944, the American Energy and Mineral Infrastructure (AEMI) Act, to address the major federal barriers that delay energy, mining, manufacturing, and infrastructure projects, and was joined by 20 co-sponsors.
The Committee’s package includes key pillars of that effort, including:
- Reforms to Section 401 of the Clean Water Act to promote consistent, evidence-based environmental decision-making across infrastructure projects;
- Greater certainty for Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) general and nationwide permits by eliminating duplicative review, extending permit terms, and incorporating judicial reforms to reduce baseless litigation;
- Statutory clarification to re-enable essential mining activities on federal lands; and
- Targeted National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) reforms that clarify the scope of review, reaffirm NEPA’s procedural nature, and establish judicial review standards designed to prevent the law from being used to indefinitely stall critical infrastructure projects.
Since taking office, Armstrong has engaged in a sustained effort to build support across industries for comprehensive permitting reform. In June, he hosted Getting America Building Again: Permitting Reform and America’s Competitive Future on Capitol Hill, convening more than 150 business leaders and policy experts around a shared blueprint for reform. He used his inaugural Senate floor speech to lay out the core elements of the AEMI Act and continued pressing the case at major energy and infrastructure forums throughout the summer.
That outreach brought together stakeholders across energy, manufacturing, mining, transmission, and transportation around a common principle: permitting reform is not about choosing one technology or industry over another—it is about restoring America’s ability to build.
