OPINION:
The cost of infrastructure projects rose dramatically during the last administration. Biden-era inflation, coupled with liberal overregulation, has made completing a construction project on time and within budget nearly impossible.
In 2023, the Associated General Contractors of America reported that 72% of contractor firms said projects took longer than scheduled, and 84% reported going over budget. It’s time to support our builders and workers by giving them the tools they need to complete projects more efficiently and streamlining the project delivery process.
President Trump is a builder, and he is committed to lowering not just construction costs but utility bills as well. The Biden and Obama administrations used permitting processes to block critical infrastructure and energy projects that could have reduced consumer costs.
As chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, I’m working to support the president’s agenda and provide relief for hardworking Americans by enacting commonsense permitting reforms.
Permitting reform will play a key role in the committee’s top priority for 2026, the next surface transportation reauthorization bill. Often referred to as the “highway bill,” this will be a multiyear measure that funds projects for our roads, bridges and other surface transportation infrastructure. It will be a bipartisan effort, and one of my goals in this bill is to get the most bang for every infrastructure buck available. We’re exploring ways to streamline the surface transportation project review and approval process and trim any fat from federal infrastructure programs to make them more efficient.
It takes an average of seven years for highway projects to complete an environmental impact study — just one step in the process before a shovel can go into the ground. Some project delays can last decades. This is unacceptable. Builders, businesses and local communities are waiting years before construction on critical projects can even begin. Time is money, and we’re wasting a lot of both because of ineffective review processes and overregulation.
Right now, there are too many government-imposed impediments to construction. These impediments are often raised in the name of protecting the environment, but in reality, many of our laws and regulations fail to balance the needs of economic growth with the needs of the environment. We can and must provide commonsense environmental protections, but we can do that while allowing Americans to build. These goals should work hand in hand.
Another bill from my committee being considered in the House this week, the Promoting Efficient Review for Modern Infrastructure Today (PERMIT) Act, does just that. Led by Rep. Mike Collins, it’s a package of targeted, commonsense reforms to Clean Water Act permitting processes put forward by a dozen of our Republican members.
In recent years, some Clean Water Act permitting processes have become more confusing, cumbersome or prohibitively costly, or have been increasingly abused and weaponized by some to advance frivolous litigation or to stop infrastructure projects for reasons beyond water quality. This legislation will restore sanity to Clean Water Act permitting so our infrastructure builders, energy producers, farmers, homebuilders, water utilities, small businesses and others aren’t left in permitting purgatory.
The measure will cut red tape, reduce costly project delays and unnecessary litigation, and provide greater regulatory certainty. It does all those things while still protecting clean water.
The PERMIT Act is just one example of commonsense streamlining reforms the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is working to implement. Earlier this year, the committee approved the Fixing Emergency Management for Americans (FEMA) Act of 2025, which provides the most robust legislative reform of federal disaster programs in decades. The FEMA Act streamlines and improves the efficiency of federal disaster programs by cutting red tape, making programs work better for communities and disaster victims, and putting states in the driver’s seat for preparing for and responding to disasters.
Republicans want to help American businesses grow and thrive, ensure our farmers can grow and transport the food we need, and allow desperately needed energy products to reach every corner of the nation. Permitting reforms can lower construction costs and utility bills and speed up project timelines. These reforms are necessary for our communities, for our economy and for improving the daily lives of Americans.
• Rep. Sam Graves is a Republican representing Missouri’s 6th Congressional District. He is chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
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