{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.mccaskill.senate.gov/media-center/news-releases/missouri-and-us-chambers-of-commerce-join-mccaskill-to-tout-her-bipartisan-plan-recently-signed-into-law-to-boost-job-opportunities-streamline-permitting", "Missouri and U.S. Chambers of Commerce Join McCaskill to Tout Her Bipartisan Plan Recently Signed Into Law to Boost Job Opportunities, Streamline Permitting", "2015-12-11", "2015", "2015-12", "Democrat", "House", "MO", "Claire McCaskill", "M001170", "www.mccaskill.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Missouri and U.S. Chambers of Commerce Join McCaskill to Tout Her Bipartisan Plan Recently Signed Into Law to Boost Job Opportunities, Streamline Permitting \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t Senators bipartisan plan to reform federal permitting was included in long-term Highway bill \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tFriday, December 11, 2015\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tWASHINGTON  Representatives from the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce today joined U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill to discuss bipartisan legislation by McCaskillrecently signed into lawthat will boost job and business opportunities by reforming federal permitting.\r\nSenator McCaskill, thanks so much for your leadership on this issueit means a real breath of fresh air for infrastructure around the country, said Daniel Mehan, President and CEO of the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, on a media conference call. Missouri is keen on infrastructure with our location in the center of the countryweve got a cross-section of pipelines, roads, railswith the second, third largest rail hubs in the country and sixth largest highway system. But this means that infrastructure development will be simplified, itll be expedited, and with the focused management itll help in a great way employ a lot of Missourians congratulations on a unique display of bipartisanship in the federal government.\r\nIts important for us to recognize and appreciate the efforts led by Senator McCaskill and Senator Portman, and for the audience on the phone to know that Senator McCaskills effort and her personal leadership to shepherd this through in a bipartisan way made it all possible, to be blunt, said Bruce Josten, Executive Vice President for Government Affairs at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Senator McCaskill in fact worked tirelessly to keep this legislation on point and moving forward, through committees, and eventually as part of the highway bill which was just signed into law by the President the new streamlining law passed last week will coordinate and speed up the review and approval of permitting for significant infrastructure and manufacturing products across the country, all of which are essential for investment, development, and growth of our economy.\r\nJosten added: This town operates when you have bipartisan approaches and compromise when you have divided government by definition, youre going to have to have people like Senator McCaskill and like Senator Portman that reach across the aisle and work an issue together and ultimately jump together to move it forward. No question about it.\r\nIm really thrilled to be able to thank Senator McCaskill for years for continuous leadership to get the Federal Permitting Improvement Act passed, said Bill Kovacs, Senior Vice President for Environment, Technology & Regulatory Affairs, U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Whats significant about the legislation is that its literally brilliant in its simplicity.\r\nThis is something I think we like to major in, in my state, and thats common sense, said McCaskill, a former Missouri State Auditor. There really is no excuse for a bureaucratic nightmare when we are trying to invest in infrastructure in this country. And it has gotten to the point that it was impossible for large projects to move in a timely basis, which means they cost more money, and we all pay for that I think its possible that we could do more [like this legislation] in Washington if everyone would stop standing on opposite sides of the room yelling at each other and try to figure out more ways that we can embrace common sense.\r\nThe long-term highway bill signed into law last week, includes provisions of the Federal Permitting Improvement Act, which McCaskill introduced more than two years ago along with Republican Senator Rob Portman of Ohio, that would streamline and speed up the federal permitting process for the largest and most complex projects, right now laden with an uncoordinated federal review process. Businesses looking to undertake large infrastructure projects are currently subject to a massive bureaucratic process involving up to a dozen agencies and approvals, and even after approval, litigation can stall projects for years.\r\nThe World Bank has ranked the United States 41st in the world in Dealing with Construction Permits, a metric that measures how easy it is to actually build something.\r\nMcCaskills bipartisan plan was backed by a number of groups including :\r\n \r\nMissouri Chamber of Commerce\r\nU.S. Chamber of Commerce\r\nAmerican Soybean Association\r\nMissouri Realtors\r\nAssociated General Contractors of Missouri\r\nNorth American Equipment Dealers Association\r\nColumbia Chamber of Commerce\r\nHome Builders Association of Greater Springfield\r\nSt. Louis Regional Chamber\r\nSpringfield Area Chamber of Commerce\r\n \r\nVisit mccaskill.senate.gov/jobs to learn more about McCaskills fight to boost job opportunities for Missouri.\r\n###\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t  \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "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://www.mccaskill.senate.gov/media-center/news-releases/missouri-and-us-chambers-of-commerce-join-mccaskill-to-tout-her-bipartisan-plan-recently-signed-into-law-to-boost-job-opportunities-streamline-permitting"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.842716010287404, "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"}