Promoting Efficient Review for Modern Infrastructure Today Act or the PERMIT Act This bill limits the scope of the Clean Water Act by redefining navigable waters to exclude (1) waste treatment systems, (2) ephemeral features that flow only in direct response to precipitation, (3) prior converted cropland, (4) groundwater, or (5) any other features determined to be excluded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Summary by the Congressional Research Service, from the official record. Plain-language version below. Not legal advice.
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1Short title
This section would let the Act be called the Promoting Efficient Review for Modern Infrastructure Today Act, or the PERMIT Act, for short.
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Official text, verbatim from the record
1. Short title
This Act may be cited as the Promoting Efficient Review for Modern Infrastructure Today Act or the PERMIT Act .
2Definition of navigable waters
This section would amend the definition of navigable waters in the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1362(7)). It would reorganize the existing definition text under a new heading, In general, without changing that wording, and would add a new list of exclusions after it. Under the new exclusions list, the term navigable waters would not include: waste treatment systems, including treatment ponds or lagoons designed to meet the requirements of the Act; ephemeral features that flow only in direct response to precipitation; prior converted cropland; groundwater; or any other features that the Administrator or the Secretary of the Army, acting through the Chief of Engineers, determines should be excluded.
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Official text, verbatim from the record
2. Definition of navigable waters
Section 502(7) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act ( 33 U.S.C. 1362(7) ) is amended—
(1) by striking (7) The term and inserting the following:
(7) Navigable waters
(A) In general
The term
; and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
(B) Exclusions
The term navigable waters does not include—
(i) waste treatment systems, including treatment ponds or lagoons designed to meet the requirements of this Act;
(ii) ephemeral features that flow only in direct response to precipitation;
(iii) prior converted cropland;
(iv) groundwater; or
(v) any other features determined to be excluded by the Administrator or the Secretary of the Army, acting through the Chief of Engineers.
.
The on-site text is shown verbatim from the GovInfo publication, captured 2026-07-23. The same version at GovInfo.
The numbers
29%
of bills that passed one chamber became law in the 118th Congress, 2023 to 2024 (n=939)
9
sponsors, out of 218 needed to pass
Who is lobbying on this
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF HOME BUILDERSvia NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF HOME BUILDERS
7 filings
AGRICULTURAL RETAILERS ASSOCIATIONvia AGRICULTURAL RETAILERS ASSOCIATION
6 filings
AMERICAN GAS ASSOCIATIONvia AMERICAN GAS ASSOCIATION
6 filings
AMERICAN PIPELINE CONTRACTORS ASSOCIATIONvia GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS SOLUTIONS, LLC
6 filings
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OF THE U.S.A.via CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OF THE U.S.A.
6 filings
INTERSTATE NATURAL GAS ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAvia INTERSTATE NATURAL GAS ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA
6 filings
NATIONAL MINING ASSOCIATIONvia NATIONAL MINING ASSOCIATION
6 filings
AMERICAN CHEMISTRY COUNCILvia AMERICAN CHEMISTRY COUNCIL
5 filings
From 335 filings in federal lobbying disclosures (LDA), via lda.gov, naming this bill (2025 to 2026). Filings are self-reported by lobbying firms and show who is paid to influence this bill. They do not say which side, or whether it worked.
Every fact on this page links to its source, starting with the official bill record. Last action: Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works. (2025-12-15).