[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 75 (Wednesday, April 29, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2104-S2105]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  UNLOCK AMERICAN ENERGY AND JOBS ACT

  Mr. 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.
  President Trump has shown bold leadership, cutting redtape and 
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.
  And nowhere--nowhere in America--is that failure felt more acutely 
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.
  Take the PennEast Pipeline, a project that would have delivered 
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.
  If we lacked the needed capital or the workers or the reserves, 
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.
  And done right, permitting reform will force Federal and State 
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.
  And that--for all those reasons--that is why I am introducing the 
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.
  Now let me be clear--let me be clear--this is not an argument--this 
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.
  We can do both: We can protect our natural resources, and we can 
still build America's future.
  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.
  Now, I know with all the issues going around, I know that time is 
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.

[[Page S2105]]

  President Trump laid the blueprint, and I am encouraged by the 
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.

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