A number of Missouri industry groups have announced their support for a bipartisan bill by U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill to boost job opportunities by streamlining the federal permitting process, which is currently bogged down by red tape and uncertainty hindering investment and job creation.
The legislation, which recently passed out of committee with near-unanimous approval--bringing it one step closer to passage by the full Senate--is endorsed by a wide variety of industry and trade groups in Missouri, including:
Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry
American Soybean Association
Missouri Realtors
Associated General Contractors of Missouri
North American Equipment Dealers Association
Columbia Chamber of Commerce
Home Builders Association of Greater Springfield
St. Louis Regional Chamber
"We appreciate Senator McCaskill's leadership in sponsoring of the Permitting Improvement Act, which will ensure efficiency and predictability in the federal permitting process," said Daniel P. Mehan, President and CEO of the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry. "Too many job-producing projects are currently forced to wait too long to be launched, delaying investment and job creation and adding unnecessary costs to employers and consumers. We also encourage the U.S. Senate to take quick, bipartisan action to enact this legislation."
"Support is building for this straightforward, bipartisan proposal among industry groups across Missouri--all of whom agree we need less red tape in government to better promote economic opportunities and boost jobs in our state," said McCaskill, a former Missouri State Auditor and a senior member of the Homeland Security Committee. "Infrastructure projects create good-paying jobs. These employers can't afford an unwieldy bureaucratic process that limits their freedom to invest and plan for the future, and I'm looking forward to working closely with them as we continue to build support for this commonsense bill."
The Federal Permitting Improvement Act, which McCaskill has introduced along with Republican Senator Rob Portman of Ohio, would streamline and speed up the federal permitting process, right now laden with unpredictability and uncoordinated federal review that hinders economic growth. Businesses looking to undertake large infrastructure projects are currently subject to a massive bureaucratic process involving up to a dozen agencies and approvals, and even after approval, litigation can stall projects for years. The World Bank has ranked the United States 41st in the world in "Dealing with Construction Permits," a metric that measures how easy it is to actually build something.
The bill is backed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, and a number of major labor unions including the AFL-CIO's Building Trades Unions. It is cosponsored by Missouri Senator Roy Blunt, as well as Senators Angus King of Maine, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, and Rand Paul of Kentucky.
A recent Bloomberg piece described the bill as "legislation seen as having the best chance of locking down enough Democrats for Senate approval," among more than a half-dozen bills aimed at revamping regulatory procedures.