Weekly Briefing: Support BAAJA with these three new resources

Oct. 7, 2026

Following its introduction in the Senate last week, Citizens’ Climate Lobby is proud to endorse the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act (BAAJA) of 2026.

Yesterday, CCL held an all-supporter call to brief volunteers on the bill and provide brand new resources to help promote it within our local communities. 

The call started with a reminder of CCL’s work on permitting reform up to this point. Since we began our permitting reform advocacy in 2023, our volunteers have organized 2,071 lobby meetings with bipartisan permitting reform as their primary topic, and they’ve mobilized more than 68,500 calls and messages to keep Congress moving toward that goal.

Throughout the process, CCL’s Government Affairs staff stayed in constant communication with key offices on the Hill, including with special efforts such as briefing  Climate Solutions Caucus staff on permitting reform.

We stayed persistent, respectful, and steadfast, advancing the conversation and becoming a resource for Senate offices on permitting reform — now we finally have the type of bill we’ve been lobbying for!

CCL’s Government Affairs and Research staff reviewed and evaluated BAAJA against our permitting principles. We’ve consistently asked Congress to address four things in a comprehensive permitting package: transmission reform, building faster, fair permitting certainty, and community engagement. BAAJA includes provisions for all four.

Despite tradeoffs, this bill will significantly reduce emissions, accelerate clean energy deployment, and lower electricity costs. CCL has endorsed, and now we’re ready to mobilize.

To support BAAJA, CCL staff have created several resources for volunteers now available in our BAAJA toolkit:

• BAAJA fact sheet: An overview of BAAJA to help familiarize yourself with the legislation and how it stacks up against CCL's own permitting reform priorities.
• Tabling handout: A one-pager available to help you introduce BAAJA to people at community events and prompt them to contact Congress in support.
• LTE guidance: Talking points so you can write an effective letter to the editor about BAAJA and submit it to your local paper. 

Additionally, be sure to mark your calendar for CCL’s Oct. 15 media training, which will explain how to engage with local media on BAAJA, and an Oct. 22 training on the bill, which will dive further into the policy itself — what's in it, why CCL supports it, and some of the more complicated questions you're likely to encounter.

We know this legislation has a journey ahead of it. So as BAAJA moves through the process ahead, you can trust there will be additional action opportunities for CCL supporters to make a difference every step of the way.

We've spent years helping create the conditions for a bipartisan permitting bill like this. Now let's turn that work into the political will Congress needs to get it across the finish line. 

Check out the BAAJA toolkit

Take action this week

If you have a little time: Share social media posts about BAAJA. Share the news! Repost CCL’s endorsement of BAAJA on X or Bluesky. Then visit our spread the word page where you’ll find links to more content on the social media platform of your choice. For maximum impact, remember to share your thoughts alongside each post and tell your network why you support BAAJA.

If you have more time: Attend this Saturday’s Monthly Meeting. This month’s meeting will feature guest speaker Sara Peach, Editor-in-Chief of Yale Climate Connections. As an award-winning environmental journalist, Sara will share her experiences as a writer and explain what it takes to write a story about the climate that people actually want to read. We’ll also review highlights from this past month and review October’s Action Sheet. Tune in this Saturday, Oct. 10 at 1 p.m. ET 10 a.m. PT.

Upcoming trainings

To see other events and CCL trainings, visit the Live Events Calendar on CCL Community.