A new Democratic-led Congressional caucus focused on energy and housing appears to have employed multiple frequently-used GOP policy points in its introductory press release Thursday.
The bipartisan Build America Caucus‘ creation was spurred in part by its chair, Democratic California Rep. Josh Harder, and some other Democrats’ efforts to fix their “post-2024 message” and recognize the “potential failure of governance in blue cities and states,” Politico reported. In a press release, Harder’s office bills the caucus as “pro-growth” and supportive of “unleashing American energy” and “cutting red tape,” policy positions frequently echoed by Republican lawmakers and the administration of President Donald Trump.
Harder’s office described the caucus as a group of “nearly 30 members from across the ideological spectrum … in a strong position to pass meaningful legislation,” per the press release. The members of the caucus include 11 Republicans and 18 Democrats.
“Voters have lost faith in government because they don’t see results — they see gridlock, red tape, and delay,” Harder said in the release. “It’s time to get back to building. Housing costs are out of control, our energy grid is strained, and foreign adversaries are racing ahead in critical manufacturing. The Build America Caucus is bringing Republicans and Democrats together to deliver real, pro-growth solutions. Our mission is simple: pass effective legislation that unleashes America’s full potential.”
“This is a moment that has been building for a while,” Harder told Politico. “I think there’s been a lot of simmering interest in permitting reform and making sure that things are built faster, better, cheaper. But now, I think over the past year or so, it’s really reached a boiling point on both sides.”
“I think this may be one of the only active bipartisan caucuses doing work that has folks across the ideological rainbow,” the Democratic lawmaker added.
Harder’s pro-growth and anti-red tape platform mirrors a spate of policies previously championed by Republican South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott and Trump administration Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Scott Turner.
For Scott, chairman of the Banking, Housing and Urban Development committee, cutting red tape around housing permits and zoning regulations was at the forefront of his September 2024 legislation, the ROAD to Housing Act.
“Layers of red tape oftentimes prevent assistance from reaching those who need it or restrict the production of new affordable housing entirely. This is especially problematic for Americans seeking federal housing assistance, as the costs associated with over-regulation hit low-income families the hardest,” Scott said in a press release at the time.
Turner has also made cutting red tape a focus of his department. In March, the HUD secretary terminated the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule which he said was a “zoning tax” that adding red tape restrictions to local land decreasing the supply of affordable housing. Turner also launched the new Joint Task Force on Federal Land for Housing alongside the Department of Interior in March, writing in an op-ed published in The Wall Street Journal that with federal land comes a “nightmare of red tape.”
“Streamlining the regulatory process is a cornerstone of this partnership. Historically, building on federal land is a nightmare of red tape — lengthy environmental reviews, complex transfer protocols and disjointed agency priorities. This partnership will cut through the bureaucracy,” Turner wrote in his op-ed. “Interior will reduce the red tape behind land transfers or leases to public housing authorities, nonprofits and local governments.”
Cutting the red tape in the energy sector is also nothing new to the GOP. House Republicans in 2024 passed the Harnessing Energy At Thermal Sources Act to streamline geothermal energy production by cutting permitting regulations.
Senate Republicans such as Majority Whip Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming are also advocates for removing red tape in energy. In August 2024 Barrasso, a member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, introduced the Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024 to secure future access to oil and natural gas resources on federal lands and waters and ensure customers have adequate transmission lines to improve electric reliability.
“The Energy Permitting Reform Act will help unlock the full potential of our industry, bolster our nation’s energy security and create American jobs,” Jay Timmons, President and CEO of National Association of Manufacturers said in a 2024 press release. “Streamlining permitting processes, cutting red tape, requiring that federal agencies make timely decisions and reducing the potential for baseless litigation will help prevent years-long delays for manufacturers—delays that give other countries a distinct advantage and put our own security at risk.”
Rep. Harder’s office did not respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
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