ARLINGTON, VA— Brent Gardner, Chief Government Affairs Officer at Americans for Prosperity, released the following statement on the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act of 2026 from Senate Environment and Public Works Chair Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), alongside Ranking Member Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), and Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chair Mike Lee (R-UT), alongside Ranking Member Martin Heinrich (D-NM):
“Legislation like this doesn’t come around often, and Washington shouldn’t let it slip away. America’s permitting system is the biggest thing standing between this country and the energy it needs to grow. Every year it stays broken, families pay more for electricity, businesses walk away from projects, and the country falls further behind. This bill is a critical first step in addressing that challenge.
“Democrats and Republicans agree the system is broken. Everyone in Washington knows it. If this legislation falls apart now, it won’t be because the policy didn’t work — it will be because politics got in the way. That’s a bad trade for the country. Allowing Americans to unnecessarily pay more for energy and electricity and fall behind China and the rest of the world on energy and manufacturing at this moment would be a historic failure.
“We are thankful to President Trump, Senators Capito, Lee, Whitehouse, and Heinrich who have done hard work here, and we applaud them for it. We’re urging every member of the House and Senate to get behind this bill. Voters have been demanding Washington fix our broken permitting system for years. This is a genuine chance to do it — Americans cannot afford to see this opportunity squandered.”
Permitting reform has been one of Americans for Prosperity’s top policy priorities for the last several years and stands as a central pillar of its affordability agenda, which identifies energy abundance — and the permitting reform needed to unlock it — as key to lowering costs for American families and businesses. An average energy project takes 4 to 5 years just to get through the permitting process before a shovel hits the dirt. As AFP noted in its Permitting Purgatory report earlier this year, the government’s broken permitting system has caused the delay or outright loss of tens of thousands of new jobs and nearly $75 billion in economic benefits in just six states.
That’s why AFP launched the Road to Prosperity campaign last September to help unleash America’s potential by elevating the critical need for permitting reform, hosting events in nearly a dozen states including visits to a power plant in Kentucky, an oil rig in Louisiana, a coal mine in Pennsylvania, an iron mine in Minnesota, an oil and gas processing site in Wyoming; a roundtable about coal in Ohio; and stops in Colorado, Montana, Texas, Utah, and Wisconsin.