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PA Chamber joins Letter on Infrastructure Plan

Modern, safe, efficient, and reliable infrastructure systems are a pillar of the PA Chamber’s Legislative Agenda.  These systems, from roads and bridges to telecommunications and utilities, provide the basis on which businesses contribute to the commonwealth’s economy and are a critical component to attracting investment and innovation.

As deliberations on a bipartisan federal infrastructure bill have continued, the PA Chamber joined with the U.S. Chamber and organizations from across the country to encourage lawmakers to reach agreement for the sake of businesses and the American people.  The letter urged legislators to prioritize investments in national infrastructure improvement, showing our support for funding that invests in and modernizes crumbling roads, bridges, railways, water and energy infrastructure, and increases access to broadband.  These improvements, we point out, would boost America’s productivity, global competitiveness and quality of life.

In total, 225 organizations signed the letter—which was sent to negotiators just before the Senate advanced the bipartisan compromise legislation in a vote of 67-32.

Federal Infrastructure Bill Stalls in Senate

Discussions around a federal infrastructure bill are heating up, with both parties taking issue with the process unfolding in the U.S. Senate.  As talks continue, the PA Chamber joined a coalition of local chambers, statewide organizations and businesses urging Senators Toomey and Casey to request action on reauthorization of federal funding for surface transportation for roads and bridges, which will expire at the end of September, as well as reforms to environmental review requirements.

With respect to ongoing deliberations over spending frameworks, Democrats have sought to advance a roughly $1.2T bipartisan infrastructure package in tandem with a $3.5T budget resolution that includes several policy and spending priorities outlined by President Biden on the campaign trail.  Total spending on both bills is expected to top $4.7T.

Last week, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (NY) sought to advance a placeholder infrastructure bill which would later be amended with the text of an infrastructure compromise.  Republicans have objected to moving forward before the bill text is available, and senators expect to produce the draft text in the coming days.  The procedural vote failed after facing unified Republican opposition.

Key progressive lawmakers in both chambers are vowing to push ahead without Republican support should the bipartisan infrastructure plan not advance.  Senator Tim Kaine (VA) has advocated for ballooning the budget resolution and using the reconciliation process to authorize the spending on a purely party-line vote.  Sen. Bernie Sanders (VT), chair of the Senate Budget Committee, agreed, noting, “…you can do it in the bipartisan bill, or you can combine it with one bill. One way or another, it’s going to happen.”

The House is expected to return in August to vote on both the budget resolution and the bipartisan infrastructure package, should one be passed.

SCOTUS backs PennEast in Critical Infrastructure Permitting Decision

On June 29, in one of its final decisions handed down for the term, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in PennEast Pipeline v. New Jersey, a case involving whether New Jersey could deny a right of way on state-owned lands to a federally-permitted pipeline needing construction access. In a win for the project and more broadly for infrastructure development and permitting certainty, the Court ruled 5-4 that the Natural Gas Act authorizes the use of eminent domain to acquire necessary rights-of-way for approved projects.

The PA Chamber joined the U.S. Chamber to file an amicus brief supporting PennEast and the project, which represents a $1 billion investment and will deliver gas from northeast Pennsylvania to southeast Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Both business groups hailed the decision in a statement, with PA Chamber President and CEO Gene Barr noting that “infrastructure build-out, including energy transmission projects like PennEast, is paramount to Pennsylvania’s sustained vitality and the economic opportunity available to its citizens.”

The majority included a mix of Democratic and Republican appointees, with Chief Justice Roberts writing the opinion, joined by Justices Breyer, Alito, Sotomayor and Kavanaugh. The majority rejected the argument made by the state of New Jersey that the Eleventh Amendment provides sovereign immunity, preventing the builder from suing for access to the state-owned lands along the route. The Court found that without Congress providing an effective mechanism for approved projects to proceed with construction (on public or private lands), the federal permitting process wouldn’t be valid. The decision allows the project, which the PA Chamber has supported throughout its planning and application process, to move forward.