WASHINGTON––U.S. Senator John Boozman (R-AR) joined Senator Dan Sullivan (R-AK) to introduce S.J. Res. 55, a joint resolution of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to nullify the Biden administration’s National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Implementing Regulations Revisions that will further bog down the already-onerous federal permitting process and add further delay to building vital infrastructure projects and putting hard-working Americans back to work.

The recently enacted Biden administration NEPA rules undermine important provisions intended to streamline key elements of our broken federal permitting process and represent a substantial roll-back of the Trump administration’s 2020 NEPA regulations, which were the first major modernization of federal environmental reviews since 1978. In addition to Boozman and Sullivan, every Republican senator has signed on in support of the CRA. 

“The federal permitting process is a tremendous hurdle to getting economic development projects off the ground and completed in a timely fashion,” Boozman said. “As inflation soars, the Biden administration should be working overtime to clear away obstacles that prevent or slow growth and hinder the creation of jobs. I’m proud to join my colleagues to support this commonsense step pushing back against more government red tape.”

“I want to thank all of my Republican colleagues for cosponsoring this resolution. A broad coalition in Congress last year included commonsense permitting reforms in the bipartisan infrastructure bill to ensure that projects wouldn’t be stalled by endless review and delay,” said Senator Sullivan. “Remarkably, those important provisions to cut federal red tape, supported by America’s workers, are now being killed by the Biden administration’s new NEPA regulations. The bridges and roads, pipelines and tunnels, ports and runways that American taxpayers were promised will now suffer from an increasing regulatory quagmire. It doesn’t have to be this way. When NEPA was originally enacted, the average environmental impact statement took less than a year to complete. Today, the average EIS takes four to six years to complete at a cost of several millions of dollars. My resolution will work to end this bureaucratic stagnation. Because of the provisions of the Congressional Review Act, my Senate Democratic colleagues will have to vote and make a choice: Will they capitulate to the far-left radical environmentalists, or will they stand with the American people and the hard-working men and women of this country who build the vital hard infrastructure projects we need? There won’t be any hiding from this vote. It will be very interesting to see who my Democratic colleagues stand with. I know who I stand for: the men and women who build our country.”

The CRA provides Congress an expedited mechanism to overturn certain federal agency regulations and actions through a joint resolution of disapproval. A joint resolution of disapproval under the CRA is afforded special procedures, bypassing normal Senate rules and allowing for a vote on the Senate floor. If a CRA joint resolution of disapproval is approved by a simple majority in both houses of Congress and signed by the President—or if Congress successfully overrides a presidential veto—the rule is invalidated.