United Association of Union Plumbers and Pipefitters (UA) General President Mark McManus praised the set of permitting reform priorities announced by the Biden-Harris Administration yesterday as a critical step towards modernizing our aging infrastructure and creating good-paying jobs, and he called on leaders from both parties to come together to reach a common-sense agreement:
“Thanks to bipartisan efforts in Congress and the Biden-Harris Administration, we have made historic investments to modernize our nation’s infrastructure and build the next generation of American ingenuity. Unfortunately, an outdated and redundant permitting process means delays in breaking ground and often unnecessary red tape. For our members, delays and uncertainty go by another word: unemployment. The priorities announced yesterday will lead to fewer unnecessary delays and more shovels in the ground,” said Mark McManus, General President of the United Association. “Strong and common-sense reforms to our permitting process will not weaken environmental standards. Instead, a streamlined permitting process will hold all projects accountable to the highest safety and quality standards so that we can reduce uncertainty and delays. I urge leaders on both sides of the aisle to work together to pass meaningful permitting reform so that we can get to work.”