AIN Joins Industry Letter Urging Congress to Pass the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act of 2026 this Congress.

By: American Innovators Network

November 9, 2026

Dear Members of Congress,

We are founders, startups, small businesses, and the organizations that support entrepreneurship. We write to urge you to pass the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act of 2026 this Congress. America’s economic and technological leadership depends on our ability to build. Technological progress can deliver unprecedented prosperity for all Americans, but only if we can efficiently make the factories, mines, power grids, ports, and broadband networks our economy needs. American innovation and prosperity require us to clear the bottleneck of outdated permitting laws that are increasing costs across the entire economy. Experts estimate that the stalled federal permitting process has halted up to $1.5 trillion in infrastructure investment.¹ We have come together at this consequential moment to urge Congress to pass comprehensive permitting reform that gives American startups and small businesses the regulatory certainty they need to invest, build, and grow.

Here are a few reasons why it is critical that Congress pass this historic legislation:

Certainty is survival for a startup, and startups and small businesses are among the strongest engines of the American economy. Small businesses employ nearly half of America’s private-sector workforce, and the startups of one generation become the industry leaders of the next. We turn new ideas into products and push established companies to compete and improve. That growth depends on founders being able to plan. A more predictable permitting process gives them the confidence to make durable, long-term investments, create new well-paying jobs, and build their companies right here in America.

Smaller companies belong in this debate. The conversation about permitting reform has been driven largely by established, well-known companies. Their voices matter, but they are not the whole picture, because the current permitting regime hurts smaller companies more than any other part of the economy. Large companies can absorb years of costly delays because they have deep pockets and large legal teams. Startups cannot. For a small business building a new factory or a startup raising its first manufacturing round, the same delays can mean layoffs, missed payrolls, or bankruptcy. Even delays to larger projects hurt the smaller companies that supply them, because contracts get pushed back and hiring slows. None of this makes the public safer or produces better outcomes. It only weakens the companies that drive American growth. Congress must ensure that permitting reform gives small businesses room to build, compete, and grow.

Energy is the foundation. Permitting reform will make it easier to produce American energy and build the infrastructure to deliver it across the country. More supply and reliable delivery mean lower energy costs for American families and businesses. Energy powers every part of our economy, but meeting growing demand requires building at a scale today’s permitting system cannot support. Faster approvals for traditional and renewable energy production will help bring down household bills and free up money for businesses to hire, invest, and grow.

Faster projects create good jobs and bring better technology to communities across America. Startups are developing tools that make our infrastructure safer, cleaner, more reliable, and more productive thanks to software that helps utilities manage growing electricity demand, tools that allow households to use solar and EV energy more efficiently, treatment systems that turn industrial wastewater into clean water and recovered minerals, and safer robotics for construction sites, ports, and warehouses. When permitting moves faster, these solutions reach people sooner. The benefits show up in our communities as more dependable services and skilled jobs.

A stronger American industrial base. Emerging companies are helping modernize the industries the country depends on, including energy, mining, manufacturing, aerospace, defense, and logistics. We share a stake in expanding domestic production, strengthening supply chains, and ensuring the United States has the power and industrial capacity to compete. Permitting delays put those goals at risk. We are bringing AI, automation, advanced software, and new technologies into sectors that are essential to American competitiveness and national security. But these gains reach American workers and towns only when the projects they serve can be permitted and built. The United States will not lead the next generation of technology if we cannot build the physical foundation beneath it.

We applaud the bipartisan work this Congress has already done, including the House passage of the SPEED Act, and urge you to finish the job by creating a permitting system that is efficient, predictable, and transparent and ultimately provides greater certainty for everyone trying to build things in America. The companies that will define the next generation of American innovation are ready to invest and grow. They simply need a permitting system that allows them—and their customers—to do it here at home.

Sincerely,

A16z • Ambient AI • Amca, Inc. • American Innovators Network • Apex Space • Camber • Castelion • CX2 • EdgeRunner • Exia Labs • Exowatt • Galadyne Technologies Corp. • Hedra • Heron Power • Intangible • Limy AI • Longeye • Mara • Mariana Minerals • Mirage • Motherboard Labs • Quilt Labs • Radiant Nuclear • Scale Drive AI • Sourcerer • Telnyx • Uplift • Vela Energy • Westmag • Y Combinator •