U.S. Rep. Bruce Westerman, R-Hot Springs, is ready for Congress to get back in session after its August recess. He knows there will be a challenge passing a federal budget, but he’d like to focus attention on a popular initiative: permitting reform.
Westerman is a co-sponsor and lead sponsor of the SPEED Act, a bipartisan measure, that he hopes will lead to more economic stimulus and less burdensome business regulation.
SPEED stands for “standardizing, permitting and enhancing economic development.” The Fourth District Congressman said the bill needs to pass to correct well-intended, but misguided precedent over the past few decades.
“We’ll not only see growth in the economy, but I believe we’ll see better protections for the environment as well, because the system that we’ve got now is broken. It’s well-intended. It all hinges around something called the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA… but there’s been some high-profile Supreme Court cases regarding NEPA lately.”
Westerman cited some of the recent decisions, particularly one that says federal agencies have been too restrictive through the rulemaking process.
“It takes an average of 4.7 years to go through the NEPA process. You get some projects like mining and offshore energy production that might take decades to get through the NEPA process. What it’s doing is throwing a wet blanket on development and on building things and growing the economy here at home. So I think this is one of the biggest issues that Congress can tackle,” he said. “I think we can potentially get this done by the end of the year.”
Westerman also said he’s hearing from constituents about the impact of tariffs on their businesses. He said he’s been passing concerns to the White House.
“I’ve given them feedback on businesses in my district that are suffering that need some relief. Trade policy gets very complicated,” said Westerman.
He also said that despite uncertainty from tariffs, Westerman believes that President Trump is angling to correct longstanding trade imbalances with other countries.
“It [uncertainty] does affect businesses on a day-to-day basis, and I could go down a list naming businesses in my district that are having issues because of tariffs and trade policies. But, also there’s some excitement around the fact that we’re hopefully going to get to a more level playing field,” he said.
“I think everybody’s ready for all the trade issues to get settled so that businesses can get more certainty in them and that we can start growing the economy and doing the things that I think the economy’s really ready to do. All the indicators are showing that if we just, I think, get the trade policy that our economy’s really going to take off,” he added.
Hear more of what the Congressman had to say about passing a federal budget when the House returns to Washington in the video below.