WASHINGTON — Seventy-two House Democrats said Friday they oppose including legislation to change federal permitting laws in a funding bill to keep the government running at the end of September, teeing up a clash with party leadership.
In a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer, D-Md., the lawmakers said a proposal to overhaul permitting laws, rewrite the Clean Water Act and approve a gas pipeline should not be folded into the so-called continuing resolution, or CR, to fund the government in the new fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1.
To secure the vote of Sen. Joe Manchin III, D-W.Va., on Democrats’ signature climate, health care and tax law, Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., agreed to hold a vote on a separate bill from the West Virginian this month.
