编者注 从选举后的互相指责中你可能看不出来，但国会正处于一项重大两党胜利的边缘。要让这项法案最终通过，需要一点谨慎、决心和常识。
By The Editors You might not know it from all the post-election recriminations, but Congress is on the cusp of a major bipartisan victory. Getting it across the line will require a bit of prudence, resolve and common sense.
问题在于一项经过长期谈判的法案，名为《两党美国可负担性和就业法案》。其目标是简化联邦相关建设项目的许可流程，这些项目可能长达数百页，耗资数百万美元，并导致数年的延误。该法案将简化环境审查流程；限制阻碍性诉讼；遏制行政部门的任意行为，例如总统最近威胁采取的行为；鼓励绿色能源项目；扩大输电能力；并为公司和投资者提供更多确定性。参议员们周一投票推进该法案。
At issue is a long-negotiated bill known as the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act. Its goal is to ease permitting for federally linked construction projects, which can run to hundreds of pages, cost millions of dollars and impose years’ worth of delays. It would streamline the environmental review process; limit obstructive litigation; curtail capricious executive-branch actions, like the ones the president has recently threatened; encourage green energy projects; expand transmission capacity; and offer far more certainty for companies and investors. Senators voted to advance the measure on Monday.
到目前为止，该计划得到了工业界、清洁能源生产商、许多气候团体、商界领袖、众多工会、大部分参议员和白宫的支持。障碍在哪里？一些民主党人在中期选举中取得压倒性胜利后士气高涨，主张现在应该继续坚持，争取更好的协议（例如，包含更多环境保护或对化石燃料项目的限制）。他们不应该。
So far, the plan has the support of industry, clean energy producers, many climate groups, business leaders, numerous unions, much of the Senate and the White House. What’s the holdup? Some Democrats, buoyant after landslide victories in the midterms, have argued that they should now hold out for a better deal (for instance, one that includes more environmental protections or restrictions on fossil fuel projects). They shouldn’t.
仅就气候原因而言，该法案就值得支持。多项公开可得的分析发现，该法案将导致排放量显著降低。罗迪姆集团的一项研究发现，到2040年，该法案可能新增高达249吉瓦的清洁能源产能，而未来资源组织预计输电能力将增加30%。与2025年相比，电力部门的总碳排放量可能减少高达24%。
For climate reasons alone, the bill deserves support. Multiple publicly available analyses have found that it would lead to significantly lower emissions. A study by the Rhodium Group found that it could add up to 249 gigawatts of new clean energy capacity by 2040, while Resources for the Future projects a 30% increase in transmission capacity. Total power-sector carbon emissions might be reduced by as much as 24% relative to 2025.
其他潜在益处不胜枚举。一个行业协会发现，新法案每年可能为制造商节省42亿美元，即每家企业超过4.2万美元。另一项分析估计，它可能创造超过10万个工业岗位，并带来“大量新的太阳能、风能和储能装机容量”。得益于更低的燃料和发电成本，该法案可能在2050年前将电力部门成本削减3500亿美元。
Other potential benefits abound. One trade group found that the new bill might save manufacturers $4.2 billion a year, or more than $42,000 per business. Another analysis estimated it could create more than 100,000 industrial jobs along with “massive amounts of new solar, wind, and storage capacity.”Thanks to lower fuel and generation costs, the measure might slash power-sector costs by $350 billion through 2050.
这些数字对于一项晦涩的环境政策法案来说十分引人注目。但问题的严重性再怎么强调也不为过。例如，目前约有2060吉瓦的发电和储能请求——约为现有总装机容量的1.5倍——因输电瓶颈而搁浅，部分原因是产能不足和审批延误。类似的繁文缛节也是地热和海上风电项目可能需要十年或更长时间的原因之一。即使在最近的改革之后，不到一半的环境影响报告书能在两年内完成。
These are striking figures for an arcane environmental policy bill. But the problem could hardly be more acute. As one example, some 2,060 gigawatts of generation and storage requests — about 1 1/2 times total existing capacity — are currently stranded in transmission bottlenecks, thanks partly to capacity shortfalls and permitting delays. Similar red tape is one reason geothermal and offshore wind projects can take a decade or more. Even after recent reforms, fewer than half of environmental impact statements are finished within two years.
除了气候后果，所有这些都拖累了经济增长，降低了生产率，提高了消费者和企业的价格，并让国家损失了工作岗位、时间和金钱，其中大部分利益归了律师。一个对物价上涨感到厌倦的选民群体，无疑会欢迎这种缓解——至少包括电费的降低。
In addition to the climate consequences, all this creates a drag on growth, reduces productivity, raises prices for consumers and businesses, and costs the country jobs, time and money, mostly to the benefit of lawyers. An electorate fed up with rising prices would surely welcome the relief— not least, a reduction in electricity bills.
进一步拖延，哪怕只是到新国会于1月就职，也不会改善这项提议。经过多年的反复搁置，两党委员会领导人谈判达成了一项微妙的妥协，这项妥协可能无法在未来的选举中幸存。国会与总统的关系在未来几个月不太可能改善。历史也建议尽快行动：民主党在2022年曾有机会在拥有执政三权的情况下通过一项类似法案，却未能达成协议。
Further delay, even just until the new Congress is seated in January, won’t improve the proposal. After years of false starts, committee leaders of both parties have negotiated a delicate compromise that may not survive future elections. Congressional relations with the president are unlikely to improve over the coming months. History, too, counsels quick action: Democrats had a chance to pass a similar measure with a governing trifecta in 2022 and couldn’t strike a deal.
因此，两党都应抓住当前的势头。很少有政治胜利会如此明确，或如此清洁。就把它做成。
Both parties should thus seize on the momentum they currently have. Few political victories would be clearer, or cleaner. Just get it done.