{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://susielee.house.gov/media/press-releases/all-above-energy-amendment-congresswoman-lee-fights-save-solar-and-end", "With All-of-the-Above Energy Amendment, Congresswoman Lee Fights to Save Solar and End Permitting Weaponization in SPEED Act", "2025-12-18", "2025", "2025-12", "Democrat", "House", "NV", "Susie Lee", "L000590", "susielee.house.gov", "susielee", "https://susielee.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 Today, Congresswoman Susie Lee (NV-03) voted against the Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development (SPEED) Act, a Republican-authored permitting reform bill that proposes significant changes to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).\n\n\u201cWe need real permitting reform to responsibly speed up good energy projects and lower costs for consumers. I voted against the SPEED Act because it doesn\u2019t do one thing to end the Trump Administration\u2019s ongoing weaponization of the permitting process against solar and wind energy,\u201d said Congresswoman Susie Lee.\u201cThis is the biggest piece of red tape we have when it comes to permitting \u2014 particularly here in the \u2018Solar State\u2019 \u2014 and the SPEED Act fails to cut through it. I\u2019ll continue working toward actual permitting reform to lower energy prices and bring solar jobs and investments back to Nevada.\u201d\n\nHouse Republicans refused to give an up-or-down vote to Lee\u2019s amendment to the SPEED Act to ensure equal treatment of all energy sources as part of the permitting process at the Department of the Interior (DOI). Since July, DOI has required that Trump-appointed Interior Secretary Doug Burgum personally sign off on every permit related to solar and wind energy development \u2014 even as the White House has offered \u201cconcierge, white glove service\u201d to oil, coal and other fossil fuel companies seeking to gain fast approval for their projects.\n\nIn September, Lee discussed her proposed changes at a House Natural Resources Committee (HNRC) legislative hearing on the SPEED Act:\n\nLee emphasized that the new red tape from the Trump Administration has not been just a speed bump in permitting Nevada solar projects, but \u201ca brick wall.\u201d\n\nShe urged HNRC Chairman Bruce Westerman (AR-04) to work with her to add parity-focused language to the bill before its markup, which would prevent officials in this or any future presidential administration from burying permits for disfavored energy sources under a mountain of bureaucracy.\n\nImage\n\nWATCH AND DOWNLOAD CLIP HERE\n\nDuring the HNRC markup of the SPEED Act in November, Lee first formally offered her amendment:\n\nLee\u2019s amendment would have restored genuine permitting parity at DOI, for all forms of energy, in a clear and unambiguous way.\n\nShe highlighted that since the publication of the July memo requiring Interior Secretary Doug Burgum\u2019s personal approval of every permit related to solar and wind energy development, zero solar and wind permits had managed to make their way out of the Secretary\u2019s office.\n\nShe emphasized the warning from the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) that the Trump Administration\u2019s attacks on America\u2019s solar and storage industry alone are threatening over 500 projects nationwide, representing half of all new planned power capacity in the United States.\n\nShe cited new analysis featured in POLITICO from Lazard, the world\u2019s largest independent investment bank, which found that wind and solar are the clear cheapest choice of new power sources to build when accounting for capital, fuel, operations and maintenance costs.\n\nShe also shared a letter from Republican Governor Joe Lombardo to the Secretary, which explained that the DOI memo \u201chas not only stopped solar development on federal lands in Nevada, but also on private land where federal approvals such as transmission line rights of way are required.\u201d\n\nHNRC Republicans voted down her amendment.\n\nImage\n\nWATCH AND DOWNLOAD CLIP HERE\n\nToday, Lee offered House Democrats\u2019 Motion to Recommit the SPEED Act back to committee to add her amendment:\n\nLee re-submitted her amendment to the House Rules Committee for consideration by the full House of Representatives, together with 30 cosponsors \u2014 making it the most-supported amendment to the SPEED Act by far.\n\nRepublicans on the Rules Committee did not make her amendment in order, denying it a vote on the House Floor as a result.\n\nLee then led House Democrats\u2019 \u201cMotion to Recommit\u201d the SPEED Act, which would have sent the bill back to HNRC to incorporate her all-of-the-above permitting parity amendment.\n\nOnce again, House Republicans voted against advancing the amendment.\n\nImage\n\nWATCH AND DOWNLOAD CLIP HERE\n\nThe full text of the amendment Lee offered for the \u201cMotion to Recommit\u201d is here.\n\nLee\u2019s amendment was endorsed by Evergreen Action and SEIA.\n\nAbigail Ross Hopper, SEIA\u2019s President and CEO, emphasized, \u201cWithout action to address the ongoing, unequal treatment of solar energy, the solar industry will continue to face significant barriers to deployment and investment at a time of skyrocketing energy demand. Slowing the buildout of affordable, reliable solar energy will only result in higher energy bills for Americans. We thank Congresswoman Lee for her work to keep fairness at the center of permitting negotiations.\u201d\n\nAs southern Nevada\u2019s sole representative on the House Natural Resources Committee, Congresswoman Lee is doing everything possible to protect public lands and parks, combat climate change, build a clean energy economy, and lower energy costs for hardworking Nevadans.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:09:11Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://susielee.house.gov/media/press-releases/all-above-energy-amendment-congresswoman-lee-fights-save-solar-and-end"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.679062843322754, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}