House permitting vote at risk over offshore wind backlash

An intraparty war over the House GOP’s flagship legislation to speed up the federal permitting process for energy projects is threatening to freeze the chamber’s floor before lawmakers leave for the holidays.

Reps. Andy Harris (R-Md.) and Jeff Van Drew (R-N.J.) said in interviews they plan to vote against the procedural measure setting up debate on the bipartisan SPEED Act and believe they have enough allied Republicans to kill it. The two lawmakers are among those arguing that language in the bill making it harder for presidents to cancel permits would undermine Donald Trump’s assault on offshore wind.

Despite the threat, GOP leaders are moving forward with the rule vote as they track a handful of Republican holdouts, according to four people granted anonymity to describe internal deliberations.

Speaker Mike Johnson’s leadership circle privately acknowledges that success on the procedural vote will likely depend on attendance and a final push to convince Republicans to support the measure.

Republicans cannot afford even modest defections given their razor-thin majority, since the minority party rarely votes with the majority on rule votes.

“We’ll see — it always depends on attendance.” Natural Resources Committee Chair Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.), the architect of the SPEED Act, said in a Tuesday interview. “I still have faith we can get somewhere because this is so important to the country in so many ways. I am not going to give up on it.”

Majority Leader Steve Scalise said Tuesday he’s “talked to those members” threatening to oppose the rule and told them “this is just the first step” to enact permitting reform as House and Senate leaders negotiate a broader package.

GOP leaders have already made some concessions to hard-liners, with the House Rules Committee agreeing Monday to allow votes on amendments they demanded — including one stripping the contentious offshore wind language from the bill.

Westerman said Tuesday he would plan to oppose that amendment if the rule is adopted and the bill moves to the floor.