House Passes Bill To Ease Permits For Building Out AI Infrastructure
The House of Representatives moved last week to accelerate America’s artificial intelligence buildout, passing legislation designed to fast-track federal permits for critical AI infrastructure projects—an effort supporters say is essential to keeping the United States ahead of China.
The measure, known as the SPEED Act, cleared the House in a 221–196 vote after surviving a tense procedural showdown sparked by conservative objections. The bill now heads to the Senate, where it is expected to be folded into a broader debate over long-stalled federal permitting reform.
Backers of the legislation, including major technology firms such as OpenAI, Micron, and Microsoft, argue the U.S. cannot afford regulatory paralysis as global competitors race to dominate artificial intelligence.
“The electricity we will need to power AI computing for civilian and military use is a national imperative,” said Rep. Bruce Westerman, R-Ark., the bill’s sponsor and chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee.
At the heart of the SPEED Act is a reform of the 1969 National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), a law long criticized by conservatives as a bureaucratic weapon used to stall infrastructure. The bill would significantly tighten review timelines and reduce the statute of limitations for NEPA-related lawsuits from six years to just 150 days.
Momentum for permitting reform has grown across party lines in recent years, particularly as even Democrat-backed clean energy projects have been snarled by delays. The explosive growth of AI—and the massive energy demands of data centers—has only intensified pressure on Congress to act.
The legislation would allow the country to be “nimble enough to build what we need, when we need it,” according to Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine, the bill’s Democratic co-sponsor.
Still, most Democrats ultimately opposed the measure, arguing that any permitting reform must roll back actions taken by President Donald Trump to limit offshore wind development and other renewable energy projects. Resistance hardened after Republican leadership inserted language exempting Trump’s efforts to block renewables from provisions that would otherwise restrict the White House’s ability to revoke permits.
That addition came after conservatives skeptical of renewable energy demanded concessions during a procedural vote, nearly derailing the bill altogether.
“That provision codifies a broken permitting status quo. I look forward to working with my colleagues across the aisle in the Senate to craft a bipartisan product that can become law,” said Rep. Scott Peters, D-Calif., who supports permitting reform but voted against the SPEED Act.
The legislation arrives as the Trump administration ramps up its own AI push. Earlier this month, the White House announced the creation of the “U.S. Tech Force,” a new initiative expected to deploy roughly 1,000 engineers and technology experts across federal agencies to work on artificial intelligence infrastructure and related projects.
According to an official government website, participants will commit to a two-year program serving on teams that report directly to agency leadership, operating in “collaboration with leading technology companies.”
Those private-sector partners include Amazon Web Services, Apple, Google, Dell Technologies, Microsoft, Nvidia, OpenAI, Oracle, Palantir, Salesforce, and others.
The initiative was unveiled just days after President Donald Trump signed an executive order establishing a national AI policy framework—an action that came amid concerns over states attempting to impose their own regulatory regimes. Administration officials say the goal is to ensure the United States remains competitive with China in one of the most consequential technological races of the century.
After completing their two-year terms, Tech Force members will be eligible for full-time roles at participating companies, while private-sector employees may also rotate into government service.
“We’re trying to reshape the workforce to make sure we have the right talent on the right problems,” U.S. Office of Personnel Management Director Scott Kupor recently told CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”