ICYMI: RSC Members Stauber, Westerman Call on Congress to Deliver Permitting Reform Before Year’s End
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A brand-new episode of the Republican Study Committee’s (RSC) Right to the Point podcast featuring Rep. Pete Stauber (MN-08) and Rep. Bruce Westerman (AR-04), Chairman of the House Committee on Natural Resources, was featured in the Daily Caller, highlighting RSC Members’ efforts to get meaningful permitting reform legislation to President Trump’s desk.
Both Congressmen emphasized the limited time remaining in the 119th Congress and the urgent need to reform the permitting process to strengthen American energy production, bolster the country’s economy, and improve national security. The current permitting process causes lengthy delays that costs American businesses and consumers billions of dollars and creates dependency on foreign nations for critical materials.
The article highlighted Rep. Westerman’s SPEED Act, which would modernize the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to streamline the permitting process, shorten review timelines, and reduce unnecessary litigation, while maintaining environmental and labor standards. The bill passed the House in December 2025 and awaits action in the Senate.
Read the Daily Caller article HERE. Listen to the full episode on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
Highlights of the article are below:
“The House Republican behind Congress’ permitting overhaul warned lawmakers are running out of time as Senate negotiators signaled a vote will likely wait until November.”
“‘I commend [Republican West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore] Capito. She’s working really hard,’ Westerman said of the chairwoman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. ‘She’s working with Sen. Whitehouse on a bipartisan version in the Senate.’”
“‘All these committees are working with bipartisan solutions that hopefully will get put in a good permitting bill, and hopefully it will happen sooner than later because we’re running out of time,’ Westerman added.
“The House passed Westerman’s Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development (SPEED) Act 221-196 on Dec. 18, 2025, five months after he introduced it with Democratic Maine Rep. Jared Golden. The bill would set deadlines for reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act, a 1970 law that requires federal agencies to study the environmental effects of major projects, and would limit lawsuits against approved projects.”
“The bill has 14 cosponsors, split evenly between Democrats and Republicans, and has sat with the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee since Dec. 18, 2025, according to Congress.gov. It would need 60 votes to overcome a filibuster in the Senate.”
“Westerman said the federal environmental review process takes four to four and a half years on average, while Stauber said opening a new mine in the U.S. takes an average of 29 years.”
“He also tied the bill to household costs, arguing that relying on foreign suppliers hands other countries control over prices.”
“‘Think about when we’re not making this stuff in America anymore, and a foreign country determines what the prices are going to be,’ Westerman said.”
“Westerman closed the episode by arguing that ‘the regulatory structure in our country negatively affects more Americans than any other policy that we work on.’”