Unlocking Rural America's Potential

Floor Speech

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Mr. WESTERMAN. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding and also for his leadership in the Western Caucus and on these important issues that mean a lot to places like the Fourth District of Arkansas, to all over rural America, where out-of-touch policies in D.C. have a negative impact on people's daily lives, and just being able to earn a living, to pay their taxes, and to provide the goods and services that the rest of the world needs. So I appreciate you hosting this Special Order.

For years, it has been clear to rural America that our Federal permitting and environmental review processes are broken. While well- intentioned, they are doing more harm than good. The current system is complex, burdensome, and ineffective, yet the political elite in Washington, D.C., wonder why our farmers, ranchers, and energy producers struggle.

Far-left special interest groups have weaponized, as Mr. Newhouse said, well-intentioned laws like the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act, and they use them as clubs to bludgeon or kill critical infrastructure, natural resource management, and energy and minerals development projects across the United States.

Delays in environmental regulatory systems are especially acute. In 2020, the Council on Environmental Quality showed that the average time for a Federal agency to complete a final environmental impact statement through the NEPA process--again, Mr. Newhouse quoted this number--is 4\1/2\ years. But that is the average number. One-quarter of all projects took over 6 years to complete. That is more than red tape. That is a roadblock. That is why Republicans support the BUILDER Act to streamline the NEPA process and benefit communities looking to improve infrastructure investment.

My district, like many others in the Western Caucus, is built on the agriculture industry, and I hear over and over from hardworking Arkansans who are simply trying to make a living through the sludge of government regulation. Overregulation and stalled regulation ensures that only the biggest businesses have the money and time to navigate the red tape and hire the lawyers that are needed to even attempt to navigate the process. This is the kind of Big Government that puts local, small operators out of business. It stamps out small business operators and honest competition in one fell swoop.

The message from rural America is clear: Government needs to get out of the way. More than that, government needs to be part of the solution and not part of the problem. I think government has forgotten that it is the government of the people, by the people, and for the people, and that if you work for the government, you work for the people. It is not the other way around.

There is no doubt that we should be good stewards of our environment and communities, but too often the free market, unburdened by government, is seen as the enemy of both. This is simply false. Streamlining a permitting process shouldn't be partisan, political, or picking sides. It can be a win for the environment, the economy, and our communities simultaneously. We do not need to choose just one. In fact, a healthy environment and a strong economy go hand in hand. Somehow, we have gotten this idea that they are mutually exclusive, and we can't have one without the other.

Again, Republicans have the solutions to cutting the red tape--it is called the BUILDER Act--and by so doing, we can empower rural America and strengthen our Nation's economy at the same time.

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