That support from the White House could be pivotal in the uphill battle to get the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act passed during the lame-duck session of Congress, especially as calls grow from House Democrats to modify the bill or ditch it entirely. The Defense Department agreed Friday to advance nine stalled large wind projects in a bid to show good faith in the negotiations.
Two people briefed on the White House’s legislative agenda, granted anonymity to discuss private conversations, said that permitting is a top priority for the lame duck.
“We’ve been told by the administration … they view this as kind of the capstone of what they plan to do legislatively,” said one of those people, an oil industry official involved with the discussions. “They really view this as a legacy win at this point.”
Though Trump has not publicly weighed in on the deal, a White House official said Friday it has his full support.
“The president has signed off on the bipartisan deal that was agreed to and will be voted on on Monday,” the official said. “This is a chance for the Democrats to put up or shut up. This is their moment to do what they said they were going to do, and we have held up our end of the deal.”
Jarrod Agen, executive director of the National Energy Dominance Council, has regularly promoted the bill on social media. Agen, Energy Secretary Chris Wright and other administration officials have also convened meetings with energy industry executives to walk through negotiations, said people familiar with the discussions.
Wright, who some energy officials had earlier speculated might head for the exit given his past run-ins in the administration, seems likely to stick around to help shepherd the bill through, said two people familiar with the Energy Department’s internal politics granted anonymity to discuss the department’s internal relations.
A DOE spokesperson said in a statement that Wright “considers passing permitting legislation a top priority and remains in close contact with stakeholders from all sides.”
“Permitting reform is just one of many priorities the Secretary has for the next two years in office,” the spokesperson said.
If anything, the trouncing the GOP suffered in the midterm election earlier this week may have strengthened Trump’s desire to get the bill signed into law in the lame duck, said Tom Pyle, who headed the transition team for the Energy Department in Trump’s first term.
A win would show that Trump has the skills to land deals even when the other side is composed of his political opponents, and the White House is also under pressure to pass something soon because Democrats in the next Congress would seek far more protections for clean energy projects, he said.
“He would like wins under his belt because he’s going to be spending the next couple of years probably navigating between veto threats and deal cutting,” Pyle said.
Another person familiar with conversations between the White House and the Hill framed the permitting battle as a bellwether for the relationship between Trump and Congress moving forward.
“Ultimately, it’s a very real choice. Do they want a major bipartisan accomplishment, or do they want to go to war and send press releases?” the person said. “There are a lot of things that the administration has supported that have historically been Democratic priorities. It should not be impossible to put two and two together.”
Chris Treanor, a lobbyist at Akin Gump who has advocated for the bill, said the Pentagon’s move Friday to advance the wind projects “should be viewed by Democrats as a clear signal of good faith from the White House.”
“Permitting reform remains the top priority for the lame duck for the President and the bipartisan negotiators,” he said.
Christa Marshall contributed to this report.
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