Congress Has a Rare Bipartisan Shot at Permitting Reform. Massachusetts Builders Need to Be Heard Before November 9.

The Senate’s Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act would cut the federal delays that drive up the cost of building lots and homes.

NAHB is asking state and local associations to weigh in. Here’s what the bill does, why it matters for housing affordability, and a ready-to-send letter for your members of Congress.

Most of the permitting fights our members deal with happen at town hall and on Beacon Hill. But a surprising share of what it costs to turn raw land into a buildable lot is set in Washington, through federal wetlands permits, federal environmental reviews, and the years of litigation risk that can follow them.

Right now, Congress has a rare bipartisan chance to fix some of that. The window is short.

What the bill is

On September 30, four senators who rarely agree on energy or environmental policy introduced the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act of 2026 (BAAJA), S. 5653. They are Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), the chair and ranking member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, and Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), the chair and ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

The 417-page bill is the product of more than a year of negotiation. It is a genuine compromise, and like most genuine compromises, it is fragile: the coalition behind it could come apart if major pieces are pulled out or rewritten. That is why NAHB is urging support for the bill as negotiated.

The Senate is expected to take it up as soon as it returns after the election, with a procedural vote targeted for November 9. The House would act after that. The House passed its own, narrower permitting bill, the SPEED Act, last December.

Why a home builders’ association cares about a permitting bill

Much of the public debate about BAAJA has centered on power plants, pipelines, and transmission lines. But NAHB backs the bill because the same federal processes that slow an energy project slow residential land development, too. According to NAHB, the bill would mean more affordable lots and faster, less expensive federal permits.

Among the provisions that matter most to builders:

• Firm deadlines for federal environmental reviews. Reviews requiring an environmental assessment would have to be finished within one year, and full environmental impact statements within two. Open-ended reviews are one of the most expensive kinds of delay: carrying costs on land don’t pause while an agency deliberates.
• Longer-lasting wetlands permits. The bill would extend Clean Water Act Section 404 general permits from five years to ten, require the Army Corps of Engineers to maintain certain nationwide permits, and raise the level of impacts those permits can cover. Many residential subdivisions rely on nationwide permits for small, unavoidable wetland impacts. When those permits lapse or shrink, projects stall.
• A clear deadline for lawsuits. Challenges to federal environmental reviews would have to be filed within 150 days. Today, the long tail of litigation risk can keep lenders and investors on the sidelines well after a project is approved.
• Permits that stay permits. Once a federal authorization is issued, agencies could revoke or change it only in narrow circumstances. A builder who did everything right shouldn’t have to worry that an approval will be pulled midstream.
• Faster reviews for multifamily and federally assisted housing. NAHB notes the bill would improve access to federal housing finance programs and reduce the cost and delay of environmental reviews tied to HUD loans and Community Development Block Grant funding. That builds on the HUD review streamlining Congress approved earlier this year in the ROAD to Housing Act.

There is also an affordability piece that reaches every household in the Commonwealth. The bill would require large data centers to pay the full cost of the grid connections and transmission they need, rather than passing those costs on to other ratepayers. In a state with some of the highest electricity rates in the country, that matters to every homeowner and renter, and to the operating cost of every home our members build.

Learn More at NAHB: Senate Introduces Landmark Permitting Reform Bill

Why the Massachusetts voice matters

Our entire congressional delegation is Democratic, and the bill’s environmental provisions have drawn serious criticism from several national environmental organizations. Not every member of our delegation is expected to support it; Senator Markey has raised environmental concerns. That is exactly why our delegation needs to hear the housing side of the argument from the people who build homes in their districts.

The case we make should be about one thing: housing affordability. Massachusetts permitted fewer new homes in 2025 than in any year since 2012, and the state needs 222,000 new homes by 2035 to meet its own goal. Every month of federal delay and every added dollar of permitting cost shows up in the price of a home or the rent on an apartment. Members of Congress who want to make housing more affordable should support a bipartisan bill that lowers the cost of building it.

What you can do (it takes five minutes)

1. Find your representative using your ZIP code: house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative. Both senators represent everyone in the state.
2. Copy the draft letter below, add your name, company, and town, and, most important, one or two sentences about a real project of yours that was delayed or made more expensive by permitting.
3. Send it through each member’s contact form (links below). Members of Congress don’t publish direct email addresses; their web forms are the official way in, and offices track constituent messages by topic.
4. Prefer the phone? Call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask for your senator’s or representative’s office. Tell the staffer you’re a home builder or remodeler in their district and that you urge support for the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act, S. 5653.

Timing matters: contact our senators before November 9. Contact your House member now, too, so they hear from you before the bill reaches them.

Massachusetts congressional delegation

U.S. Senate

• Sen. Elizabeth Warren: Contact form
• Sen. Edward J. Markey: Contact form

U.S. House of Representatives

• 1st District, Rep. Richard Neal (Springfield, Pittsfield, western Mass.): Contact form
• 2nd District, Rep. Jim McGovern (Worcester, central Mass.): Contact form
• 3rd District, Rep. Lori Trahan (Lowell, Lawrence, Fitchburg): Contact form
• 4th District, Rep. Jake Auchincloss (Newton, Attleboro, Fall River area): Contact form
• 5th District, Rep. Katherine Clark (Framingham, Malden, MetroWest): Contact form
• 6th District, Rep. Seth Moulton (North Shore, Cape Ann): Contact form
• 7th District, Rep. Ayanna Pressley (Boston, Cambridge, Somerville): Contact form
• 8th District, Rep. Stephen Lynch (South Boston, Quincy, Brockton): Contact form
• 9th District, Rep. Bill Keating (Cape Cod, the Islands, South Coast, Plymouth): Contact form

District descriptions are approximate. Use the ZIP code lookup above to confirm yours.

Draft letter: copy, personalize, and send

Dear [Senator / Representative] [Last Name],

As a [home builder / remodeler / trade contractor / supplier] and constituent in [Town], I am writing to urge your support for the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act of 2026 (S. 5653), introduced by Senators Capito, Whitehouse, Lee, and Heinrich.

Massachusetts is in a housing affordability crisis. Our state permitted fewer new homes in 2025 than in any year since 2012, and we are far behind the pace needed to reach the Commonwealth’s goal of 222,000 new homes by 2035. Every month of delay and every added permitting cost is ultimately paid by the families who buy or rent those homes.

Slow and unpredictable federal reviews are part of that cost. BAAJA would set firm deadlines for federal environmental reviews, extend the life of the Clean Water Act general and nationwide permits that residential projects depend on, establish a clear deadline for legal challenges, and give builders confidence that a permit, once issued, will not be withdrawn midstream. It would also reduce the cost and delay of environmental reviews for HUD-assisted and CDBG-funded housing, and require large data centers to pay their own grid costs rather than shifting them onto household electric bills.

[Add one or two sentences about your own experience. For example: “On a [number]-home project in [Town], waiting on a federal wetlands permit added [number] months and roughly $[amount] to our costs before we could break ground.”]

This bill is the result of more than a year of good-faith bipartisan negotiation. I respectfully ask you to support it as negotiated, so that this rare opportunity to lower the cost of building homes is not lost.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,
[Name]
[Company]
[Street address, Town, ZIP]
[Phone / email]
Member, Home Builders & Remodelers Association of Massachusetts

Tip: Always include your full street address. Congressional offices use it to confirm you’re a constituent, and messages from constituents are the ones that get counted.

Have any questions?

If you’d like help tailoring your message, or you have a project story you’d be willing to share with our advocacy team, contact the HBRAMA office. Specific examples are the most persuasive thing we can bring to Capitol Hill.

Bill details are drawn from NAHB, the bill sponsors, and Congressional Research Service and Bipartisan Policy Center analyses of S. 5653 as introduced on September 30, 2026. The bill text may change through a managers’ amendment before a final vote. Massachusetts permit figures: Pioneer Institute analysis of U.S. Census Bureau Building Permit Survey data, June 2026.