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Exclusive / The ‘abundance’ movement’s next front: Transportation

Eleanor Mueller
Eleanor Mueller
Congress Reporter, Semafor
Jul 1, 2025, 5:17am EDT
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A highway in California
Fred Greaves/Reuters

A bipartisan group of House members is asking leaders of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to “cut excessive red tape” when they reauthorize spending on surface transportation — like highways, rail and transit — set to lapse in 2026.

“Unlocking America’s economic potential can be achieved by accelerating construction, eliminating unnecessary delays, and clearing the way for smarter, faster infrastructure investment,” Rep. Josh Harder, D-Calif., and 20 others wrote in a letter shared with Semafor.

They cited fast-tracked permitting, elimination of redundancy, and expanded exemptions as examples. It’s an early glimpse at a new front for the so-called abundance movement, which has more Democrats joining Republicans in seeking to roll back regulations to spark growth.

One of the letter’s signatories, Rep. Jake Auchincloss, D-Mass., described “abundance” recently as “an economic textbook for the Democratic Party [that] moves past the stale debate between government and business.”

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