“Delays show up as numbers on a spreadsheet, but for LIUNA members they mean another day without a paycheck”

Washington, D.C. (Jan. 28, 2026) — Brent Booker, General President of the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA), testified today before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee in favor of bipartisan permitting reform. For decades, outdated permitting laws have been weaponized to obstruct building critical infrastructure – and LIUNA members are paying the price.

“In far too many cases, developers now spend more time in court than it would take our members to physically build the project,” Booker told senators. “Delays show up as numbers on a spreadsheet, but for LIUNA members they mean another day without a paycheck … livelihoods are put on hold.”

Proposed legislation, such as the SPEED Act, would address some delays due to judicial review timelines, but do not address other significant barriers, including water quality certification and electricity transmission reform to ensure power that is generated can be connected to the power grid, Booker testified.

“Today the greatest threat to project certainty is not litigation alone, it is the politics being played with our members’ jobs,” Booker told the committee. He cited the cancellation of permits for major privately-financed offshore wind projects, some of which are near completion, and blocking of funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act.

LIUNA is the largest union of construction laborers in the U.S. Its members build and maintain highways, bridges and tunnels, construct schools, hospitals and skyscrapers, and build energy infrastructure, including wind, solar, nuclear, hydro and pipelines.

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The more than a half-million members of LIUNA – the Laborers’ International Union of North America – are on the forefront of the construction industry, a powerhouse of workers who are proud to build the United States and Canada.