Washington Examiner
· collected 2026-09-30 · by Callie Patteson and Maydeen Merino
WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY:
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WHAT → happen → ?
And we have a winner for Fat Bear Week, a bear known as “89 Backpack” was crowned the chonkiest of them all at Alaska’s Katmai National Park and Preserve.
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we → have → Park
Backpack pulled in 103,334 votes to win the tournament, which drew nearly 2.5 million votes.
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which → pull → votes
After months of anticipation, the Senate has released its draft text for a bill that would streamline the federal permitting system.
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that → release → system
It is a major sign of bipartisanship in the upper chamber before the midterm elections, though the bill faces an uphill battle to pass when Congress returns.
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Congress → face → battle
We have some of the highlights for you below.
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We → have → you
If a friend sent this to you and you’d like to sign up, click here.
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you → send → you
If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email, and we’ll add you to our list.
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we → sign → list
The Senate has officially introduced a bipartisan legislative package aimed at accelerating the federal permitting process – and it’s a whopper.
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it → introduce → process
The draft bill, which is more than 400 pages long, is considered crucial to facilitating the connection of renewable energy to the grid and the expedited construction of new power plants and other electricity-generating projects that will be used to power artificial intelligence.
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that → consider → intelligence
We’re still going through the lengthy bill, but here are some of the highlights so far:
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some → go → highlights
Permit certainty: The legislation includes provisions long sought by Democrats that would ensure the executive branch cannot delay or block the permitting of energy projects, regardless of the resource.
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branch → include → resource
This would also prevent future Democratic administrations from canceling fossil fuel permits.
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This → prevent → permits
Additionally, it would order the fair treatment of all energy resources when issuing new permits for projects, including but not limited to onshore wind, offshore wind, coal, natural gas, nuclear, and geothermal.
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it → order → wind
The bill also gives the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission more authority to approve interstate power lines and process transmission infrastructure applications at the same time as state reviews.
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bill → give → reviews
This is a top priority for Democrats, who have been seeking to connect thousands of gigawatts worth of solar, storage, and wind capacity to the broader electric grid.
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who → seek → grid
Additionally, the legislation would streamline permitting by reforming provisions of several existing laws, including the National Environmental Policy Act, the National Historic Preservation Act, and the Clean Water Act.
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legislation → streamline → Act
Most notably, the bipartisan bill would tweak judicial review requirements under these laws, setting a new deadline of just 150 days for groups to legally challenge environmental reviews.
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groups → tweak → reviews
In announcing the deal, key Democratic negotiator Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse told reporters that the question of “returning to regular order” for renewable energy projects with the Trump administration was still “unresolved.”
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question → announce → administration
“We have had what I would consider to be a very reasonable opening proposal from the Trump administration.
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I → have → administration
We need more clarity on that,” he said.
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he → need → that
“And when we have more clarity on that, there’ll be back and forth to try to resolve those issues.
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we → have → issues
That will happen in parallel with the amendment work, and we look forward to good results on that.”
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we → happen → that
Last week, the White House indicated that it would pull its support for the bill if Democrats continued to stall, as party negotiators said they were punting a vote to after the midterm elections.
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they → indicate → elections
As of this afternoon, however, the White House was still backing the bill.
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House → back → bill
“We support this deal, which will deliver transformative policies to lower Americans’ energy and housing costs, drive new construction and investment in American infrastructure, and create American jobs,” a White House official told Daily on Energy.
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official → support → Energy
“We look forward to seeing it pass quickly.”
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it → look → ?
Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairwoman Shelley Moore Capito told reporters that the upper chamber plans to make the permitting bill its first vote once returning from the midterm elections.
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bill → tell → elections
While optimism filled the halls of the Capitol today, history will remind us that between now and November, there is plenty of time for a bipartisan permitting deal to fall apart.
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deal → fill → time
DEMOCRATS TANK RATEPAYER PROTECTION ACT AHEAD OF MIDTERMS:
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DEMOCRATS → tank → MIDTERMS
Senate Democrats today blocked the Ratepayer Protection Act from advancing out of the chamber, keeping Republicans from getting a win weeks before the midterm elections.
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Democrats → block → elections
The bill fell short by a vote of 57 to 43 with four Democrats in favor: Sens. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff of Georgia, Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota.
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Democrats → fall → Minnesota
Passage would give the bill’s sponsor, Republican Sen. Jon Husted of Ohio, a boost.
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Passage → give → boost
Husted is a vulnerable incumbent who is running against former Sen. Sherrod Brown.
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who → run → Brown
Husted has faced Democratic attacks over data centers.
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Husted → face → centers
Democrats argued that Husted’s bill, which passed with bipartisan support in the House, was “toothless” because it does not set a federal standard on data centers to pay the cost of new generation, transmission, and infrastructure upgrades.
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it → argue → generation
Sen. Martin Heinrich said Wednesday on X that “The Ratepayer Protection Act is exactly what Congress is known for: all message and no substance.”
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Congress → say → what
“It’s not enough for us to tell states to consider making data centers pay for grid upgrades.
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centers → ’ → upgrades
If voluntary worked, we wouldn’t need legislation,” he added.
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he → work → legislation
“I want Congress to pass legislation with real teeth.
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Congress → want → teeth
…and 51 more, not listed.
The Aporia
