Floor Statement of House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte on H.R. 348, the RAPID Act

Chairman Goodlatte: Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. America’s voters sent the 114th Congress to Washington to help turn around this Nation’s struggling economy. For more than six-and-a-half long years, America’s families and workers have been waiting for the Obama Administration to join with Congress to pass measures that will adequately restore jobs and growth to our land. The job clearly has not been finished.  Throughout the Obama Administration, America’s growth rate has been historically anemic. The truest measure of unemployment—the rate that includes both discouraged workers and those who cannot find a full-time job—remains over ten percent.  Our labor force participation rate remains mired among historic lows. Median real household income, meanwhile, is five percent lower than in June 2009, when the recession officially ended. Median incomes are supposed to rise during economic recoveries, not fall. The Obama Administration has managed to buck the historical trend. However, the President at least pays lip service to the need to unleash construction projects. If one thinks back to the start of the Obama Administration, one can remember President Obama’s plan to solve the Great Recession with the nearly $1 Trillion Stimulus Bill.  The Stimulus was supposed to work, according to the President, because America had “shovel-ready” projects, from which new, good-paying jobs would be created, once the Stimulus was enacted, and the money was doled out. While many, including myself, disagreed with the fundamental premise of the Stimulus Bill, the President blamed his Stimulus Bill’s failure on the lack of “shovel-ready” projects. As he put it, “shovel-ready was not as shovel-ready as we expected”. Mr. Chairman, that is the problem that today’s legislation—the RAPID Act—is intended to solve. This legislation fulfills post-Stimulus-Bill calls of leaders in Congress, the White House, the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, and the private sector to streamline the review of federal construction permit applications. It contains well-thought-out, balanced reforms that provide for more efficient and effective decision-making. Stated succinctly, the RAPID Act gives lead federal agencies more responsibility to conduct and conclude efficient inter-agency reviews of permit requests; demands that any entity challenging a final permitting decision in court first have presented the substance of its claims during the agency review process; and, requires that lawsuits challenging permitting decisions be filed within six months of the decisions—not six years, as the law currently allows. These are simple but powerful reforms that will allow good projects to move forward more quickly, delivering high-quality jobs and improvements to Americans’ daily lives. Prior iterations of the RAPID Act passed the House three times during the 112th and 113th Congresses, each time with bipartisan support.  Once enacted, this legislation will help to create millions of high-paying jobs and make government decision-making more efficient and effective. Importantly, it will also continue to ensure that the impacts of new projects on the environment can be considered responsibly before permitting decisions are made. I thank Regulatory Reform Subcommittee Chairman Marino of Pennsylvania for introducing this legislation and urge all of my colleagues to vote for the RAPID Act. I reserve the balance of my time. Click here to learn more about the RAPID Act.