President Trump’s bold agenda to rebalance global trade through tariffs and slash government spending demands swift action to offset short-term economic disruptions.

The president secured trillions in promised investment. But when will those projects ever break ground? Federal permitting, a bureaucratic morass, delays critical infrastructure and energy projects, stifling growth.

The unseen costs of these delays — lost jobs, forgone wages and idle capital that could otherwise fuel innovation and upward mobility — are the tangible consequences. What is not built today diminishes prosperity tomorrow.

President Trump’s recent executive orders on deregulation and investment acceleration prioritize growth, yet permitting under the National Environmental Policy Act remains a bottleneck. A 2020 Council on Environmental Quality study found that reviews under the law average 4.5 years, costing billions in lost opportunities.

To get President Trump’s projects started sooner, he should consider utilizing streamlined regulatory tools to reform........

© The Hill