Democrats Abandon Phony Fig Leaf “Permitting Reform”
‘The problem was that the Schumer-Manchin language was not actual permitting reform by any stretch. It was a phony fig leaf. It was designed to create the illusion of progress while sapping the political will to tackle the issue in a real way… So I’m glad that our colleagues capitulated and abandoned their phony fig leaf. I look forward to a bipartisan government funding bill coming to the floor this week.’
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks today on the Senate floor regarding permitting reform:
“The path to keeping the government funded has been clear for weeks now.
“The solution was always going to be a clean, bipartisan continuing resolution; negotiated by Senators Shelby and Leahy; without any unrelated partisan language jammed in.
“Our Democratic colleagues tried to complicate things by jamming in a phony, partisan fig leaf on the subject of permitting reform.
“Republicans strongly support real, substantive permitting reform.
“We are leading that charge. Senator Capito has an outstanding bill that would make significant changes to make it easier to build things in our country, create jobs in our country, and unleash domestic energy in our country.
“The problem was that the Schumer-Manchin language was not actual permitting reform by any stretch. It was a phony fig leaf. It was designed to create the illusion of progress while sapping the political will to tackle the issue in a real way.
“The Democrats carefully tailored the bill to avoid making any impactful changes to permitting laws. In fact, we had panicked state-level elected officials from around the country writing the Senate to explain how the Democrats’ bill would make existing problems even worse.
“Fortunately, the Senate saw through the political game. The phony fig leaf didn’t have the votes.
“So I’m glad that our colleagues capitulated and abandoned their phony fig leaf. I look forward to a bipartisan government funding bill coming to the floor this week.
“And I hope that our Democratic colleagues will push the liberal special interests aside and let actual, robust permitting reform become law someday soon.”
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Related Issues: Senate Democrats, Appropriations
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