Senator Alan Armstrong (R-Oklahoma) joins David Gura and Christina Ruffini on Bloomberg This Weekend and says permitting reform—not additional federal spending—is the most effective way to lower housing and energy costs, arguing regulatory delays have created infrastructure bottlenecks that drive up prices for consumers.
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What Alan Armstrong said
Written from the verified transcript and checked against it. Every figure links to the moment it was said.
Senator Alan Armstrong discussed the president's refusal to sign the housing bill until the Save America Act passes, calling it a strong statement on voting integrity. He emphasized that permitting reform is more important than housing, describing it as a tax on the economy. Armstrong noted that Oklahoma's low cost of living means housing is not a front-burner issue, but he criticized the housing bill's NEPA waivers as a band-aid. Drawing on 40 years in energy, he argued that constrained infrastructure raises consumer prices and that the president's frustration with gas price lags is normal market behavior. He praised Chris Wright's efforts on the Strait of Hormuz and advocated for investing in nuclear innovation, citing Vogtle's difficulties. He expressed surprise at how low national interest ranks in party priorities, especially among Democrats.
Key takeaways
Permitting reform is more important than housing and is a huge tax against the economy.
The housing bill's NEPA waivers are a band-aid, not a fix for permitting reform.
Democratic leadership prioritizes blocking progress over what's best for the country.
0:50What did you hear from the president about what he wants to have happen here for that bill to get signed into law?
1:52Are you disappointed that the bill didn't get passed?
3:00What are you hearing from your constituents about the need for progress on permitting reform and affordable housing more broadly?
4:33What are you trying to get Washington to do from somebody who's been out there in the trenches where bottom lines and profits do actually matter?
6:26What would you say to somebody who doesn't know how this works, why we're not seeing the kind of decrease in gas prices as quickly as the president wants?
8:02Do you wanna go over to the White House and let him know that this is how it goes?
8:56Is that where the country should be focusing on new forms of energy, or are there quicker, simpler ways to get the grid up and running faster?
11:31What has surprised you about how difficult it is to make progress on the issues you care about?
Senate reversed course on limiting President Trump's power in the Iran war in an effort to placate the president after an extremely tense lunch on Capitol Hill. Trump walked into the building and has already sparked frustration on his part and had a tense meeting, a tense luncheon there on Capitol Hill, post on social media he refused to sign a housing bill that was passed by a near unanimous vote until his voting act also passes Congress. Senator Alan Armstrong of Oklahoma was at that Senate Republican lunch with the president. We asked him about the housing bill as well as the president's interactions with lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
I think that was obviously a surprise to everybody, and caught everybody off guard a little bit. Clearly, the president's trying to make a strong statement about how important the Save Act, the Save America Act, is to him personally, and I think he certainly got his point across on that.
There was this meeting that followed with the president, and I would love your readout on what transpired there. We've heard that Senator Cassidy was the subject of a great deal of anger from the president. What was the mood in that room? What did you hear from the president about what he wants to have happen here for that bill to get signed into law?
He just continues to express the importance of getting our voting to something that everybody can trust and be dependent on. I think that's obviously very important to him, but I'm not gonna make any comments on what exactly went on in the room. Obviously that's very important to the president. He continues to press on that. But it's a private conversation for good reason, and I think we should have more private conversations and work out differences rather than letting them work their way out into the public.
You said the president got his point across that this voting act is really important to him, but this housing act was really important to Republicans, especially Republicans who are trying to run in tight races come the fall. One of the things that voters say over and over again when asked is they're focused on these kitchen table issues, and housing has gotten so expensive in this country. Are you disappointed that the bill didn't get passed?
I think there's a lot of important work that we need to be doing. Permitting reform is something I think is actually more important than any of those issues we've been talking about because it's something that's really holding our nation back. It's a huge tax against our economy, and it really is crucial to our future to be able to get back to building things here with certainty, with lower costs, and being able to put capital to work in our country to power our future. Yes, there's a lot of important things that need to get done, and this is a place where people express what they think is most important to them. That's what the president was doing.
Tell us a bit what you've heard from your constituents from Oklahomans about housing in particular. Affordability is such a big issue going into the midterms. What are you hearing from your constituents about the need for progress on permitting reform and affordable housing more broadly?
That's not a front and center issue in Oklahoma. We have a very low cost of living, and our governor has done a great job of making Oklahoma a place of low cost of living. Things like blocking infrastructure and raising people's utility costs are things we can do without spending money or making tax breaks. One of the things most interesting to me about the housing bill is that some of its key elements involve NEPA waivers. So waiving the NEPA laws is all about our permitting reform. You saw the same thing in the CHIPS Act. Rather than actually fixing the problem and dealing with permitting reform, we keep putting on gloves to fix a leaky pipe as it relates to our permitting process. That was a stark issue for me on the housing bill. Even getting affordable housing is being impacted by how litigated our permitting processes have become here in the US.
I know another big cost is energy, and you are trying to address that in a new bill you're proposing. You wanna run us through that? I know you have a lot of experience in the private sector when it comes to energy. What are you trying to get Washington to do from somebody who's been out there in the trenches where bottom lines and profits do actually matter?
9 more exchanges in this transcript
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Armstrong, A. (2026, June 27). Sen. Armstrong: Permitting Is Key to Lower Energy Costs [Interview transcript]. Bloomberg Television. CEOInterviews.AI. https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1050073/
MLA
Alan Armstrong. "Sen. Armstrong: Permitting Is Key to Lower Energy Costs." Bloomberg Television, 27 Jun. 2026. Transcript, CEOInterviews.AI, https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1050073/.
BibTeX
@misc{armstrong2026_1050073,
author = {Alan Armstrong},
title = {Sen. Armstrong: Permitting Is Key to Lower Energy Costs},
howpublished = {Interview transcript, Bloomberg Television. CEOInterviews.AI},
year = {2026},
month = {jun},
url = {https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1050073/},
note = {Speaker-attributed transcript with timestamps}
}
