1. United States
2. Ariz.
3. Letter

Vote no on the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act of 2026 before it reaches a Senate floor vote. BAAJA would give this president legal cover to fast-track corrupt deals, gut NEPA, NHPA, and Clean Water Act reviews, and lock in those decisions so the next administration cannot undo them. That is not permitting reform. That is a blank check. The specifics are damning. BAAJA would exempt federal loans and loan guarantees from NEPA and NHPA review entirely, stripping the public of any meaningful say in projects like the $1.6 billion in federal financing steered toward a Kazakh tungsten mine partly owned by Trump's sons. Courts would be barred from issuing injunctions or vacating decisions in NEPA and NHPA cases, meaning the administration could violate the law and projects would still go forward. A five-year lookback provision would legally pressure future administrations to keep permitting at Trump's pace. The transmission provisions in BAAJA are genuinely good, and I understand why some support the bill for that reason alone. But no grid upgrade is worth handing this president irrevocable permitting authority over detention centers, petrochemical complexes, and public lands from the Boundary Waters to Chaco Canyon. Vote no, and come back with a deal that builds clean energy without dismantling the guardrails that protect communities from the worst abuses of power.