Senate Advances BAAJA Permitting Bill 73-25, Opening Debate in Lame Duck Session

WASHINGTON: The Senate voted on Monday, November 9, 2026, to advance a bipartisan bill that would speed federal permitting for power plants, transmission lines, mines and other large projects. The vote was on cloture on the motion to proceed to H.R. 2347, the House passed bill the Senate is using as the vehicle for the permitting plan. The New Mexico Political Report reported the tally as 73 to 25, above the 60 votes needed to end a filibuster, with most no votes coming from Democrats. Food & Water Watch and the Land Desk also reported the bill advanced.

What the bill would do

The plan is the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act, known as BAAJA, filed in the Senate as S. 5653. Senators Shelley Moore Capito, Mike Lee, Sheldon Whitehouse and Martin Heinrich introduced it on September 30, 2026. The bill would shorten and speed federal environmental reviews for major projects. It would also require large data centers to pay more of the cost of the grid upgrades needed to serve them, according to Reuters. The bill reaches into the Endangered Species Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, the Clean Water Act and the General Mining Law of 1872, the Land Desk reported. It would accelerate permitting timelines and make it harder for tribes, states and advocacy groups to stop or force changes to a proposed development.

Changes added over the weekend

The sponsors unveiled a package of changes on Saturday, November 7. Reuters reported that the changes added requirements for tribal consultation, expanded the role of states in transmission planning and utility oversight, adjusted provisions on electric cooperatives and public power utilities, and created a Department of Energy program to help communities with data center impacts. On the tribal protections in the amendment, Heinrich said: "We worked to strengthen that dramatically". Earlier on Monday, Heinrich and Whitehouse held a press conference to address opposition from environmental and Tribal communities.

Opposition from tribes and most Democrats

Nearly 100 Native American organizations urged Congress on Monday to halt consideration of the bill, saying it would weaken protections for tribal sovereignty, sacred sites and cultural resources, according to Reuters. A majority of Senate Democrats, including Senator Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico, voted against invoking cloture, according to the New Mexico Political Report. Heinrich, one of the sponsors, said at the press conference: "In my view, leadership is hardest when you disagree with your friends". Jim Walsh, policy director at Food & Water Watch, said Americans are "fed up with unchecked aggression from Big Tech and the out-of-control construction of AI data centers". Whitehouse, another sponsor, defended the bill before the vote. He said: "This bill is the floor, not the ceiling, of our climate and environmental aspirations".

What happens next

Clearing 60 votes means opponents cannot block the bill with a filibuster, and a final Senate vote is expected in the coming days. Heinrich and his co-sponsors will offer their manager's amendment before other senators offer their own amendments, according to the New Mexico Political Report. If the Senate passes the bill, it must still win passage in the House before it goes to the White House, where it has been supported. New Mexico Representatives Melanie Stansbury and Teresa Leger Fernandez have expressed opposition, and Governor-elect Deb Haaland publicly opposed the bill and the amendment on Monday.