Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) suspected that passage of Manchin's permitting reform legislation would not be a slam dunk when they attached it to a government operations funding bill at the close of the third quarter. In fact, it was anything but a slam dunk—it didn't even make it to a vote. "A failed vote on something as critical as comprehensive permitting reform only serves to embolden leaders like Russian President Vladimir Putin who wish to see America fail," Manchin said in late September in explaining why he pulled the Energy Independence and Security Act from the funding bill.
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