The Senate voted 73 to 25 on Monday evening to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act, clearing the first of two 60 vote hurdles for the most consequential permitting bill in years. The vote was bipartisan in both directions: the bill’s authors are the leaders of the two committees that share jurisdiction, Shelley Moore Capito and Sheldon Whitehouse of Environment and Public Works, and Mike Lee and Martin Heinrich of Energy and Natural Resources.
The bill, introduced on September 30 and revised by a manager’s amendment released on November 7, would shorten National Environmental Policy Act review timelines for energy and infrastructure projects, set firmer deadlines across related statutes, and narrow the period in which legal challenges can be filed against approvals. It reaches mines, pipelines, power plants, transmission lines, roads and data centres. One contested provision would restrict agencies’ ability to revoke or change permits already in effect, language the manager’s amendment softened without removing.
The data centre provisions speak directly to the AI buildout. The bill would fast track permits for data centres and the generation and transmission serving them, while requiring developers to pay for the power and grid upgrades their facilities cause, a cost allocation Heinrich defended as making sure data centres pay for the energy they use. President Donald Trump said on November 8 that he would sign the bill if it reached his desk, while also saying he would not approve new wind turbines, which the bill is meant to encourage among other technologies.
Nothing about Monday’s vote makes the bill law. It was a procedural step that opens floor debate and amendments; final Senate passage requires another 60 vote cloture, and the measure must then pass the House, where some Democrats oppose it and where the return of members who lost their elections could affect the count. Environmental, civil liberties and Indigenous groups oppose the bill, arguing it weakens safeguards and tribal consultation. The current Congress ends in January, so the bill’s window is the lame duck itself.