Principles and Actions for More Effective Transportation Policy

Introduction

Affordable, reliable transportation is the backbone of American prosperity, touching everything from family budgets to national competitiveness. In this white paper, we explain how a modernized, innovation‑friendly policy framework can both strengthen supply chains and accelerate environmental progress. Drawing on the sector’s track record of dramatic pollution cuts—cars and trucks are now 99 percent cleaner than they were in 1970—we argue that market‑driven advances such as AI‑optimized logistics, cleaner fuels, and autonomous technologies can further decouple growth from emissions while keeping costs in check. ​

We set out a clear, technology‑neutral path for lawmakers: streamline outdated regulations, empower private capital to invest in next‑generation infrastructure, and foster transparent emissions accounting that lets consumers and businesses reward genuine environmental performance. By letting competition, not command‑and‑control mandates, steer the transition, America can secure a transportation system that is safer, cleaner, and more affordable for every household and enterprise. ​

Senate Permitting Bill Would Clear a Path for Long-Distance Power Lines the Grid Needs

As Americans see their electricity bills rise, utilities are spending record sums on the grid while building fewer of the long-distance lines it needs. Investor-owned utilities are on track to spend $1.4 trillion on the power system through 2030, yet the country added just 400 miles of high-voltage transmission in 2025, down from 4,000 miles in 2013. 

The Senate Permitting Bill Would Speed Infrastructure Reviews Without Sacrificing Endangered Species

The Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act of 2026 (BAAJA), introduced by Senators Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Mike Lee (R-UT), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), and Martin Heinrich (D-NM), offers an opportunity to address that imbalance. The bill would streamline federal permitting, including through targeted Endangered Species Act (ESA) reforms: shorter consultation deadlines, a clearer scientific standard, and a larger role for states.

China’s Critical Mineral Threat Is Real, but Narrower Than Washington Thinks

A year ago, President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping met in Busan, South Korea, and agreed to a truce over critical minerals. The two countries had been in the middle of an escalating trade war. China agreed to suspend a set of sweeping rare earth export controls, including licensing rules for products made anywhere in the world containing even trace amounts of Chinese rare earths. The United States, in turn, rolled back several tariffs and paused some of its own export restrictions.

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