Nov 11 (Reuters) – The US Senate is not expected to hold additional votes on the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act, a sweeping permitting reform bill, until next week, when lawmakers will take up amendments and a vote on final passage, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse said on Wednesday.
• Whitehouse, a Democrat from Rhode Island, who is one of the bill’s four authors, is in Turkey attending the COP 31 United Nations climate change conference
• He told reporters by phone that he would return by Monday for the next permitting reform vote
• Some senators are submitting proposed amendments to the bill this week. A group of Democrats, led by California’s Adam Schiff, is seeking to strike provisions related to the National Historic Preservation Act from the bill, arguing they would weaken protections for tribal resources
• Senator Josh Hawley, a Republican from Missouri, introduced amendments aimed at protecting farmers and other landowners from having their land taken through eminent domain for transmission lines
• Whitehouse said the 75-23 Senate vote to advance the legislation earlier this week had improved its prospects in the House of Representatives
• He said members of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus had assured senators that the House will hold a vote on the measure and were optimistic about its chances of passing
(Reporting by Nichola Groom; editing by David Gaffen)
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