NABTU Secretary-Treasurer Brent Booker offered testimony on Thursday, September 7, 2017 before the US Senate Homeland Security Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.

Secretary-Treasurer Booker was invited to testify before the Subcommittee as part of a hearing titled  “Cutting Through the Red Tape: Oversight of Federal Infrastructure Permitting and the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council.”

During his testimony, Secretary-Treasurer Booker observed that “America’s labor leaders and businesses agree: the permitting process for major U.S. infrastructure projects must be modernized to make it more efficient, more accountable and more transparent. These projects employ hundreds of thousands of building trades members, and the sooner projects can break ground, the sooner our members can get to work applying their crafts and providing for their families.”

Booker was also effusive in his praise of the full committee Chairman, Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) for his leadership efforts on this issue.

“Chairman Portman, beginning with your leadership on the Federal Permitting Improvement Act, you have demonstrated a steadfast commitment to cutting red tape in order to get much needed infrastructure projects moving forward. NABTU, and in fact the entire building trades community, is extremely grateful that your efforts resulted in Title 41 of the FAST Act (FAST-41), which will greatly streamline the federal permitting process, leading to more job opportunities for construction workers across the country.”

Booker Testimony