Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said during an event at the Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday that he would be reintroducing his legislation that failed to get enough support during a vote in the Senate last year.
He also said he would take a look at Republicans’ energy package, known as H.R.1, and said it was “wrong” for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to call the Republican bill “dead on arrival.”
Both Manchin, who chairs the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and leaders on the Environment and Public Works panel indicated they would work on permitting reform issues in their committees.
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), ranking member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, stressed the need to “get the policy right” while also expressing openness to including permitting reform in a potential package that would address the debt ceiling.
“I do think it’s possible to have permitting reform in there,” Moore Capito said. But she also said it’s important to work out the policy specifics.
Capito also reiterated the need for compromise. She said that bolstering electricity transmission is a driving force for Democrats and called it “essential,” though other Republican members have expressed resistance to Democrats’ proposed reforms.
