National Association of Towns and Townships - www.natat.org

How Townships can access clean energy tax credits in the form of direct pay/transferability

2025 NATAT Policy Platform

NATaT Tax Priorities

NATaT Transportation Reauthorization Priorities

NATaT December 2024 Annual Meeting

Jerry B. Crabtree, Heidi Fought (Ohio ED), Past President Neil Sheradin (Michigan Ed), and NATaT President Dave Sanko (PA ED)

NATaT Weekly Legislative Report

September 22, 2026

Congressional Outlook

The Senate is in session from Tuesday evening through Thursday afternoon this week, while the House remains in recess until after the November 3 midterm elections.

Senators will focus on permitting reform in the hopes of setting the foundation for consideration of a bill in the lame duck session of the 119^th Congress. Bipartisan Senate negotiators, led by the Chairs and Ranking Members of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) and Energy and Natural Resources (ENR) Committees, have reportedly reached agreement on key issues like the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), Clean Water Act (CWA), and judicial review, with draft text possibly circulating as early as today and power transmission language among the last items being worked out. Negotiators know the final product still has to clear the House, where the political dynamics and vote margins differ. If a deal comes together, both sides would likely have around seven weeks to convince lawmakers in their own party and hear from their constituents, since the Senate probably would not take up the measure until after the midterms, though the extended public review period before any vote is making some observers uneasy. A compromise deal would likely include language favored by GOP senators limiting states' authority to reject projects under the CWA and to ease approvals while restricting judicial challenges under NEPA and the National Historic Preservation Act, which protects Native American cultural sites. Democrats are prioritizing provisions expanding interstate transmission lines and curbing the administration's ability to cancel projects or delay approvals, while stressing that Trump administration attacks on renewable energy, especially the Defense Department's continued refusal to issue routine onshore wind approvals, have complicated negotiations. Democratic negotiators are also pressing Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) to guarantee that any agreed-upon bill will be taken up by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), though the House has left town and is not scheduled to return to Washington until November 9.

The Senate returns on Tuesday and is scheduled to vote on the nomination of Angela Colmenero to be a U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Texas. The chamber will also likely hold votes on amendments to the Protect College Sports Act of 2026 (S. 4668), which establishes rules for name, image, or likeliness (NIL) agreements for college athletes. The Senate will hold 16 committee hearings and markups over the course of the week, including a Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism hearing to examine flock's nationwide AI surveillance network; a closed Armed Services Subcommittee on Cybersecurity briefing on cyber operations and readiness for the second and third quarters of Fiscal Year 2026 as well as an update on election security; a Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing to consider the nomination of Heidi Overton to be Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration; a Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee hearing to examine small business, big impact, focusing on entrepreneurs at the heart of thriving communities for 250 years; and an Environment and Public Works Committee hearing to examine updating America’s nuclear waste management policy.