The American Highway Users Alliance (the Highway Users) is pleased to express support for the recently announced Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act of 2026 (BAAJA), S. 5653. The BAAJA takes important steps in modernizing and improving the permitting process for infrastructure and energy projects. Today’s permitting system is slow and unpredictable, leading to increased costs and needlessly delaying construction projects. This bill would bring greater certainty to the permitting process and speed up construction projects.

America has a significant backlog of highway infrastructure projects. Due to a cumbersome permitting process, making those needed investments face increased costs and lengthened timelines. Projects could even be canceled in some cases. The Highway Users have long supported reforming the permitting process for infrastructure and energy projects and several of our priority reforms have been included in the BAAJA. Specifically, the Highway Users strongly support efforts to: set and enforce prompt timelines generally; ensure that legal challenges demonstrate direct harm; and shorten the timeline for challenges under the Endangered Species Act. These reforms give greater certainty to the energy and construction industry and provide a more transparent roadmap for project delivery.