In this high-stakes election year, a rare bipartisan policy victory emerged through the Accelerating Deployment of Versatile Advanced Nuclear for Clean Energy (ADVANCE) Act. This legislation on its way to the president’s desk is the result of the hard work and dedication of Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R., W. Va),  who has built a bipartisan coalition in support of it.

The ADVANCE Act both reduces licensing fees for new reactors and additionally ensures that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has the funding it needs to do the work to ensure continued U.S. nuclear energy technology leadership and hire more staff.

This legislation also better secures U.S. national security. Given the sensitivity of nuclear technology, this legislation ensures that certain domestic licenses be denied to both China and Russia. While innovation at home is essential to move nuclear energy forward, this legislation ensures that this never happens at the risk of empowering our adversaries.

This legislation also recognizes the importance of international cooperation so as to ensure that the U.S. has a chance to embrace effective coordinated international engagement with allies and partners, with such countries defined as an “embarking civil nuclear nation.” Countries explicitly excluded from that category of cooperation include China, Russia, Belarus, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela, Syria, and Burma.

There is also a great opportunity here to reduce licensing fees for new reactors, and as more reactors get built in the United States, this will mean more jobs for Americans here at home. With more reactors in the United States comes greater energy security and less of a dependence on foreign oil in unstable parts of the world.

Our economy is currently not doing as well as it could or should be. Inflation continues to hammer Americans’ pocketbooks. According to a recent Monmouth University poll, 45 percent of Americans are “currently struggling to remain where they are financially.” Comparatively, from 2017 to 2021 those who self-identified in this manner ranged from 20 to 29 percent, per Monmouth. Ultimately, our economy is in desperate need of change and that means we need more jobs for hard working Americans.

In this election year, there will no doubt be spirited campaigning, oftentimes emphasizing partisanship. In spite of that, we need to remember that we are all Americans and that we share this great country that we all live in. Part of looking out for one another is ensuring there are opportunities for economic empowerment today, so as to preserve our prosperity for tomorrow.

In West Virginia, the energy sector is key to economic prosperity and opportunities for innovation will continue to ensure that is the case. For West Virginia to be a part of the economy of tomorrow and for future generations of West Virginians to have the opportunities — and even better-paying ones — that current and past generations of West Virginians have known, it is essential that there be more legislation empowering — not impeding — American innovation.

Unemployment nationwide is at 4 percent. Meanwhile, in West Virginia, it is at 4.3 percent. Legislation such as this is important for creating the jobs that will lower the unemployment rate across the country, including in West Virginia.

Sen. Moore Capito’s legislation is exactly the kind of work that we need to see more of in Washington. Its scope is realistic, its focus is on the future, and its goal is to empower Americans so that they can better provide for themselves and their families.

The passage of the ADVANCE Act should be celebrated. When the president signs it into law, it will undoubtedly be to the benefit of the American people.

***

Del. Daniel Linville serves as a Delegate in the West Virginia House of Delegates and Sarah E. Hunt is the President of the Joseph Rainey Center for Public Policy in Washington, D.C.