VIDEO: Heinrich and Whitehouse Urge Senate Passage of Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act

Heinrich: "We don't have to wait for the new Congress to start lowering costs. We can do that today. Let's pass permitting reform."

WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, held a press conference urging their Senate colleagues to pass the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act (BAAJA), bipartisan legislation to lower energy costs, hold data centers accountable for the costs they impose on American families, and create good-paying jobs.

With the Senate slated to vote on the legislation this evening, Heinrich and Whitehouse highlighted how BAAJA would help address rising electricity costs, accelerate the development of new energy infrastructure, and hold data centers accountable by forcing them to fully pay for their operational costs.

"Just one week ago Americans sent a clear message: They want Congress focused on making their lives more affordable. That's precisely what this permitting reform bill will do," said Heinrich. "BAAJA will save households billions of dollars in electricity costs, directly hold data centers accountable, create over 100,000 trades and manufacturing jobs, and cut emissions up to 20% from the power sector over the next decade."

"The American people spoke loud and clear that they wanted results on affordability. BAAJA will mean billions in lower energy costs, and tens of billions of dollars more in ratepayer savings because of the provisions cracking down on data centers. And it can actually begin to happen now. People want to see Congress do big, good things. This is a big, good thing," said Whitehouse.

Independent analyses find that BAAJA would lower Americans' electricity bills by 3-5 percent, save families billions of dollars, nearly double the amount of solar and wind that can connect to the grid, and create up to 105,600 trades and manufacturing jobs. The legislation would also require data centers to cover the increased grid and energy costs they create, estimated at $55 billion over the next decade.

U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Ranking Member U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) host press conference to urge Senate passage of the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act, November 9, 2026.

Watch the full video of Heinrich's remarks here.

A transcript of Heinrich's remarks as delivered is below:

Every once in a while, I don't wear my Senate pin, even if it means I'm going to get stopped on the way in.

I wear this pin.

It's my dad's 60-year IBEW pin, and he spent those 60 years keeping people's lights on and working to keep their electricity bills affordable.

A little over a month ago, Senator Whitehouse and myself announced, along with our Republican colleagues, our bipartisan permitting bill.

And today, just one week after Americans sent a pretty resounding message about their priorities, we are taking our first vote on that legislation.

And that message that the people sent was pretty clear: they want Congress focused on making their lives more affordable, and that's precisely what this permitting reform bill will do.

BAAJA will save households billions of dollars in electricity costs, so that families can have money in their pockets for more than just keeping the lights on and their homes warm.

This bill directly holds data centers accountable, forcing big corporations to pay their full share instead of pushing costs on the consumers.

That one provision is worth $35 billion dollars to American households.

That's pretty remarkable.

BAAJA will create over 100,000 trades and manufacturing jobs, good-paying jobs that workers can be certain will be around to support their families through a project's completion.

And BAAJA will cut emissions up to 20% from the power sector over the next decade, meaning cleaner air, healthier communities, and fewer healthcare costs.

This bill's not perfect.

We've never pretended it was.

It is, after all, bipartisan, and that means that neither side got everything they want.

We had to find common ground.

We had to make compromises, and we had to work through some very real disagreements.

But bipartisanship doesn't mean we stop listening, and it doesn't mean we stop working to make the legislation better.

I have worked hard to incorporate the feedback that we've heard from Tribes and New Mexicans into our Manager's Amendment, and I want to walk you through a few of those changes because they're pretty important.

First, on Tribal consultation, I've heard directly from Tribal leaders about the importance of having a meaningful voice in decisions that affect their communities and affect their ancestral lands.

We work to strengthen that dramatically in this Manager's Amendment.

Tribes will now have an equal seat with states in transmission planning, and federal agencies will be required, and let me say that again: required "shall" consult, not "may" consult, "shall" consult early with Tribes on projects that will affect important cultural sites, including on what properties are affected, the impacts of the project, and ways to avoid, minimize, or mitigate potential harms, and basically that means that mandatory Tribal consultation is now built into every single step of the Section 106 process by law.

We've also extended the window for objections to agency reports.

We've strengthened opportunities for states to weigh in, and we've given states a way to ask FERC to investigate local utility projects that gouge consumers.

That, in my view, is particularly important as private equity and other outside investors seek to take a larger role in electric utilities.

States need the tools to protect their ratepayers.

Third, we've made sure that workers' rights are protected.

The Manager's Amendment preserves collective bargaining agreements for union employees of the power of bargaining administrations, so that those workers can continue to bargain collectively and stand up for workers' rights.

And finally, we've added a new Department of Energy Data Center Community Assistance Program because when a community is considering whether or not to grant a permit to a major data center, it needs to understand what that project will mean for its electricity supply, costs, water resources, infrastructure, and local economy, in order for them to make a good decision.

This program will give state, local, and Tribal governments the technical assistance they need to make their own informed decisions.

These are meaningful improvements.

They reflect the feedback that we've heard and they make an important piece of legislation, in my view, even stronger.

And importantly, they don't change what this bill was always about: lowering energy costs, building the infrastructure our country so desperately needs, creating good-paying jobs, protecting our communities, and making sure that data centers pay their fair share.

That's what we set out to accomplish when we started this project, and that's what we're still working to deliver.

So I would urge all my colleagues: Let's get this done.

Let's make it possible for America to build big things in this country again.

The people sent us a very clear message on Tuesday that they expect us to lower the costs in their daily lives.

We don't have to wait for the new Congress to start lowering costs.

We can do that today.

So let's pass permitting reform.

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