(FreedomBeacon.com)- 72 Democrats are urging House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to keep an important provision off of the U.S. energy permitting process in the government funding measure, despite the provision being key to having Democrat Senator Joe Manchin sign off of the Inflation Reduction Act, according to The Epoch Times.
“We urge you to ensure that these provisions are kept out of a continuing resolution or any other must-pass legislation this year,” Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.), chairman of the Natural Resources Committee, and 71 other Democrats wrote to Pelosi on Sept. 10.
The Democrats listed a host of issues with the provision which would reportedly streamline the permitting process for oil and other energy projects, something that critics of the Biden administration claim has become tougher since Biden took office.
The Democrats do not see it that way, arguing that the “proposed legislation would restrict public access to the courts to seek remedies against illegal project development; place arbitrary limits on the amount of time the public is given to comment on polluting projects; and curtail public input, environmental review, and government accountability.”
Yet in order to get Manchin on board with the Inflation Reduction Act, President Joe Biden and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer promised him reforms to the permitting process.
Bernie Sanders, who regularly votes with Democrats, called the agreement between Manchin and Democrat leaders a “disastrous side deal,” saying that it is a “a huge giveaway to the fossil fuel industry, to drill, produce, and sell more oil and gas.”
The Inflation Reduction Act is a $740 billion package that supports tax, health care and climate programs. Sanders himself has come out to say that it will do little to actually curb inflation.
“According to the [Congressional Budget Office] and other economic organizations that have studied this bill, it will have a minimal impact on inflation,” the senator said.
