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Congressional Daily Record
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April 29, 2026
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Download official Senate Record PDFReturn to issue contextMr. McCORMICK. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce legislation on a critical subject for the American people. I rise because Congress—this Congress—has a historic opportunity over the next 6 months to deliver an energy and economic bonanza for the American people by overhauling our broken permitting process.
attracting transformational investment. Just last year—just last year—he helped catalyze $92 billion of new investment for the Keystone State at the Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit in Pittsburgh. And since then, other enormous investments in advanced manufacturing and transformation energy infrastructure have been made in our Commonwealth.
But the President cannot carry this alone. A true overhaul requires Congress to reclaim its article I responsibilities and to ensure that the Federal Government is a partner to American energy dominance, not an obstacle to American energy dominance—and an obstacle is exactly what our permitting system is today. It is what it has become.
A McKinsey study found $1.5 trillion in critical infrastructure is frozen in permitting limbo, holding back 2.4 trillion in economic activity.
It takes 5 years—5 years—to get a permit for a powerplant. That is longer than it took us to win World War II. Transmission lines take nearly 8 years.
The supply-demand gap tells the same story. From 2013 to 2024, U.S. natural gas demand surged 49 percent, and pipeline capacity grew by 26 percent; storage capacity, 2 percent. Demand—demand for energy—is sprinting, and capacity is crawling.
than in Pennsylvania. Our Commonwealth is an energy superpower. But because so much of our energy infrastructure crosses State lines, rivers, and wetlands, nearly every project in Pennsylvania needs Federal approvals, and the current system makes that almost impossible to obtain.
Pennsylvania natural gas to New Jersey homes and businesses. Environmental activists weaponized this permitting system to kill it. Over 12,000 direct and indirect jobs—gone. And PennEast is just one example among many.
And here is the sad irony: Pennsylvania ranks third in the Nation in electricity production, second in the Nation in natural gas, and second in nuclear power. And yet, Pennsylvania families face a 20-percent hike in energy prices that are projected over the next 3 years; Pennsylvania businesses, up to 30 percent.
rising prices, they might make sense. But we have all three. The obstacle holding back Pennsylvania energy is Washington made. And it is time—it is time—for Congress to fix it. We must do better.
governments to move faster, to clear the backlog, and to unleash a wave of investment across our economy. It will lower prices. The projects stuck in limbo could power more than 50 million homes. That backlog drives up cost on everything, from farming to fighter jets. Cheaper energy means cheaper everything. It will create great—great—high- paying jobs. Every new nuclear plant, every new pad, every oil rig, every pipeline, every new power line unlocked by reforms, means thousands of jobs—thousands of jobs—for welders, electricians, pipefitters, and engineers in small, industrial towns across America— towns like Bloomsburg, PA, where I grew up.
And it will make us more secure. We are in a head-to-head race with communist China for AI leadership, and the stakes are existential. We cannot afford to lose, and we cannot win without more energy.
The recent fighting in the Strait of Hormuz is a stark reminder: We cannot rely on the rest of the world to power our future. We must build it ourselves, and we must be the supplier—the supplier of choice—to our allies around the world.
Unlock American Energy and Jobs Act. This is gold standard—the gold standard—for what Pennsylvania and the country needs.
The bill addresses four chokepoints. First, it stops opponents from weaponizing the Clean Water Act as a general-purpose veto, setting hard deadlines and limiting reviews in actual water quality concerns; No. 2, it scraps the outdated rule forcing American LNG exporters to seek case-by-case Federal approval before selling our natural gas abroad; No. 3, it modernizes nuclear licensing to match today's technology and decades—decades—of proven safety in America and around the world; and No. 4, it brings common sense to environmental litigation which activists routinely use to kill projects that have already cleared every single regulatory hurdle.
is not an argument—for abolishing environmental standards. It is not an argument for shutting down public debate. It is an argument for decisions that are timely, decisions that are lawful, and decisions— and this is most important—that are final.
And now—now, my friends—is the moment. We have a pro-energy President. A Republican Congress determined to unleash American energy. I have spoken with many, many of my Democratic colleagues who want projects, who want these same kinds of projects unlocked in their States too. The common ground on this topic is real, and the American people are demanding—they are insisting—that we seize the moment.
short and the priorities are many. Some are urgent, like ending the DHS shutdown. But we must be ruthless in our prioritization. If we let this moment slip, we lose a golden—golden—opportunity for lower costs, to create jobs, and to transform our economy.
bipartisan conversations that are already underway, but it is up to us. It is up to us to make this momentum permanent. And it is up to us—us in this body—to unleash a new era of American security dominance.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Nevada.