Key facts
- The Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act of 2026 would limit plaintiffs' ability to halt permitted energy projects during legal challenges.
- Environmental lawyers said the provisions could make it harder to challenge construction plans for the East Potomac Golf Course, a proposed triumphal arch at Memorial Circle and the Kennedy Center.
- Matt Littleton, co-founder of Envolve Law and a former Justice Department counsel, said projects altering the built environment would be easier to bulldoze.
- Supporters say the changes are needed to reduce lengthy legal battles that delay or kill energy infrastructure projects amid rising electricity demand.
Environmental lawyers said the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act of 2026, a permitting reform bill unveiled in September and expected to receive a Senate vote as early as next week, would make it harder for opponents to slow President Donald Trump's Washington makeover. The bill would limit plaintiffs' ability to halt work on permitted energy projects while they challenge federal approvals.
Supporters say those changes are needed to reduce lengthy legal battles that frequently delay or kill energy infrastructure projects amid rising electricity demand. But the same provisions could also make it more difficult for groups to challenge and slow the Trump administration's construction plans for the East Potomac Golf Course, the proposed triumphal arch at Memorial Circle and the Kennedy Center, among other projects, the lawyers said.
Matt Littleton, co-founder of Envolve Law and a former Justice Department counsel, said: "Anything where you're altering the built environment or affecting areas covered by the National Historic Preservation Act, which of course ... there's tons of those in D.C., will be much easier to bulldoze. That's kind of the point of the bill."