Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) shakes hands with Ricky Bradley, CCL Executive Director, after the Senate’s first procedural vote on BAAJA
After CCL Senate lobby day, BAAJA passes procedural vote with strong bipartisan support
By Flannery Winchester, CCL VP of Marketing and Communications
On the evening of Monday, Nov. 9, BAAJA passed its first procedural hurdle in the Senate. The bill earned an encouraging 73 bipartisan votes, which the Washington Post calls “a strong indicator the bill will ultimately pass the chamber.”
The vote came after a busy day of CCLers lobbying in support, with 60 in-person meetings and more than 30 virtual ones, reaching the majority of Senate offices just before they voted that evening.
At a post-lobbying reception that night, bill sponsor Sen. Heinrich spoke of the bill’s benefits to climate and clean energy, saying, “I have more hope tonight than I’ve had in a long time.” Sen. Whitehouse expressed his appreciation for CCL’s persistent advocacy on permitting reform and nonpartisan climate solutions.
There’s more work ahead. We’re actively preparing for additional lobby meetings and keeping up outreach to Senators and House members.
But for now, let’s dive a bit more into each element of the last few days to fully appreciate all that has happened so far and the incredible ways CCL has shown up in this moment.
Learning the latest on BAAJA
On Sunday, Nov. 8, dozens of CCLers and Dream.org volunteers, as well as staff from both organizations, gathered in Washington, D.C. for a day of programming to learn the latest information about BAAJA, as well as improvements.
The program included sessions like:
- The Basics of BAAJA and Permitting Reform – A 101-style session with CCL’s own Jenn Tyler and Dana Nuccitelli.
- What Permitting Means for Climate & Clean Energy – Olivia Windorf from C2ES and Dana discussed the expert modeling about permitting reform that shows it will have an outsized benefit to clean energy and will significantly reduce emissions.
- Panel Discussion: Common Permitting Reform Concerns – Jenn moderated a discussion with this panel of experts from the Environmental Policy Innovation Center (EPIC), The Breakthrough Institute, and the Institute for Progress exploring and responding to concerns about permitting provisions related to the National Historic Preservation Act, Certainty, the Endangered Species Act, Clean Water Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act.
Kandia Milton said, “We see an opportunity to do something great. Many say ‘Let’s wait for the next session,’ but we’ve been waiting for too long while communities are suffering and the price of energy is going through the roof. The time is now.”
Editor’s note: At the time of publishing, recordings of several of these sessions are being processed and uploaded to CCL’s YouTube channel. We will add the links here as soon as they are available!
In addition to those informative presentations, our program included a BRIDGE workshop specific to permitting reform conversations, a review of our specific Lobby Day asks, and inspirational opening and closing remarks from CCL’s Executive Director Ricky Bradley and Dream.org’s Director of Government Affairs Kandia Milton.
To support volunteers in their understanding of the bill and to equip them to effectively share that understanding with congressional offices the next day, CCL also provided a slate of brand new resources:
- A flow chart explaining the steps of the permitting process and the changes BAAJA makes
- A set of four case studies showing how permitting delays have impacted clean energy projects in real life
- A one-page explainer about the “manager’s amendment” to BAAJA (which was just released the day before, on Saturday, Nov. 7!)
This whole program and the supporting materials came together in just a matter of weeks — remember, BAAJA was only introduced on Sept. 30. In that short time, CCL staff, liaisons, and volunteers sprang into action to plan this special lobbying event and these informative sessions and materials to prepare everyone for their day on the Hill.
Senate Lobby Day for BAAJA
On Monday, Nov. 9, equipped with everything they learned the day before, CCL and Dream.org volunteers headed to Capitol Hill.
As always, we took a group photo on the Capitol steps — a smaller group than our big annual Lobby Day, certainly, but a motivated and mighty one!
CCL and Dream.org advocates on Capitol Hill (November 9, 2026)
Along with our partners from Dream.org, we had 60 in-person meetings set for Capitol Hill on Monday. On that same day, CCLers around the country had more than 30 additional Senate meetings scheduled virtually. Though the meeting minutes and therefore the exact numbers from our Lobby Day are still coming in, it’s clear CCLers lobbied about 65-70% of the Senate.
CCL and Dream.org volunteers at some of their lobby meetings on Capitol Hill (Nov. 9, 2026)
Leading up to this lobby day, volunteers have been generating messages and calls to Senate and House offices in support of the bill. At the time of this blog post, we’ve generated 10,568 contacts in the last few weeks.
Our ask in all these meetings and messages is simple: Vote yes on BAAJA.
We’re behind this bill because it will lower emissions and support clean energy deployment nationwide — steps that are critical to addressing climate change. At the same time, it will lower electricity costs nationwide and make our grid more reliable.
National news coverage on Monday helped tell the story of our support.
“The bill is projected to reduce carbon emissions in the long run, which is why several climate advocacy groups, such as Evergreen Action, the Citizens’ Climate Lobby and the Environmental Defense Fund, threw their weight behind the compromise.”
“Jenn Tyler, head of government affairs for Citizens Climate Lobby, a nonpartisan group advocating for federal climate solutions, told The Sun the bill could be a key to tackling carbon emissions.”
“Jennifer Tyler, CCL’s vice president of government affairs, said she is hopeful tonight’s vote will be ‘really strong’ and telling for the final passage. CCL is one of the few climate and environmental organizations that has offered its public endorsement for BAAJA.”
Procedural vote and post-lobbying reception
At 5:30 p.m. on Monday evening, the Senate began their procedural vote on BAAJA. CCL and Dream.org volunteers and staff alike were gathered at a post-lobbying reception to watch the vote and connect after a meaningful day of advocacy.
The bill passed with 73 votes in support — a strong bipartisan showing and a good sign of the bill’s prospects of final passage through the Senate.
Soon after, several Senators stopped by the reception to celebrate this step forward for BAAJA and to express appreciation for our advocacy efforts.
(L-R) CCL Executive Director Ricky Bradley, VP of Government Affairs Jennifer Tyler, Arianne Terrones, Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Sara Mason, Ugo Machuca
After a warm introduction from Sen. Hickenlooper (D-CO), Sen. Heinrich (D-NM) asked the crowd, “Who’s ready to get more clean energy on the grid?” which was met with loud cheers and applause.
He acknowledged that BAAJA is a compromise bill, but he said clearly, “As somebody who has worked on clean energy since 1992 — it’s time to get to work. The more we do now, the further down the road we go.”
He called the changes in this bill a “generational shift,” explaining, “For decades, we’ve been so focused on fighting the bad projects, and we haven’t done nearly enough investment in making sure the good projects can outcompete everything else. And if we’re going to solve climate change, if we’re going to have a clean energy transition, we have to have the good stuff out in front.”
Sen. Heinrich closed by saying, “I have more hope tonight than I’ve had in a long time, and I want to thank you all for making that possible.”
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI)
Later, Sen. Whitehouse (D-RI) arrived and shared his own appreciation, saying, “I just love you guys. I really do.” He nodded to CCL’s trademark persistence, pointing out that for years on permitting reform, “You were there, there, there.”
He added, “You know that climate change is a real threat, not a political issue, and you have behaved accordingly. It makes me just super proud to be with you here tonight as we share this victory.”
Next steps to support BAAJA
Now that we’ve lobbied the Senate, our liaisons and volunteers are preparing for their House meetings. We’re also keeping up outreach to Senators in the lead-up to their final vote, and going ahead and contacting House members in anticipation of the bill heading to their chamber after Senate passage.
If you haven’t called or written to your Members of Congress yet, please do! Call your Senators, write to your Representative, and keep an eye on your inbox for CCL newsletters with additional updates, actions, and upcoming events to support this important legislation.
