policy advisor @joinfai, senior advisor @faiaction
Joined September 2020
- Tweets 27,286
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1,239 Photos and videos
Pinned Tweet
May 20
New from me in the summer edition of @AmericanAffrs…
Both political factions have embraced energy obstructionism, an outlook we can scarcely afford at a moment that demands wartime-scale energy buildout. I propose a new doctrine of energy addition that can get us back on track.
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Pavan Venkatakrishnan retweeted
Puerto Rican independence is more popular in Manhattan than Puerto Rico
Zohran Mamdani, alcalde de Nueva York: “A CC Puerto Rico, se le ha negado la independencia por demasiado tiempo” elnuevodia.com/corresponsali…
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Pavan Venkatakrishnan retweeted
Jun 12
Absolutely massive scoop by @emilypont: The Trump administration is giving up defending the president's offshore wind permitting freeze in court
heatmap.news/sparks/trump-of…
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Pavan Venkatakrishnan retweeted
A frequently under-reported angle of the oil and gas discussion is that we don't have at-cost and scale alternatives yet for the industrial sector
That's 1/3 of emissions in the US
nytimes.com/2026/06/11/clima…
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Pavan Venkatakrishnan retweeted
Jun 10
Energy Imperatives 2026: @JoinFAI’s @ppavnr and @ThomasHochman talk to Sen. Joe Manchin about the peril and promise of permitting reform.
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Pavan Venkatakrishnan retweeted
Jun 11
One thing I've noticed in @TheArgumentMag's polling: the salience of corruption is going up.
In November 2025, corruption was ranked as the 5th most important issue for voters.
In May 2026, it was ranked 3rd, ahead of immigration.
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Pavan Venkatakrishnan retweeted
Jun 10
We can’t let politics get in the way of building more energy supply.
Glad to sit down with @ThomasHochman to discuss the FREEDOM Act and unlocking America’s full energy potential.
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Pavan Venkatakrishnan retweeted
Jun 10
It was fun talking with @SiegelScribe about the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA).
While at DOJ, I defended several major infrastructure projects from NHPA lawsuits & saw some ways the process could be improved.
I'm working on a long article about the Act & proposed reforms.
If you'd like a sneak peak, or if you have any ideas for how the Act could be improved, my DMs are open!
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Jun 9
There are both practical and political merits to seriously tackling workforce constraints in the context of the data center convo, not to mention serious knock-on benefits for a myriad of other industries as the US seeks to build out the grid and much more.
Jun 8
Meta coming in at this scale to invest in the local skilled trades pipeline is both practically necessary and politically shrewd. Often lost amid the abstract debates, but buildout only happens with the workforce to sustain it. Win-win-win for industry, workers, and communities.
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Pavan Venkatakrishnan retweeted
Jun 8
Meta coming in at this scale to invest in the local skilled trades pipeline is both practically necessary and politically shrewd. Often lost amid the abstract debates, but buildout only happens with the workforce to sustain it. Win-win-win for industry, workers, and communities.
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Pavan Venkatakrishnan retweeted
Jun 9
NHPA Section 106 reforms should be on the table as part of robust permitting reform and kudos to @EnergyGOP Chair @SenMikeLee for looking at it.
@SMA_Steel sent recommendations to the Committee as part of the referenced hearing:
- Align NHPA trigger with "major federal action"
- Refine the scope of "area of potential effects"
- Consider impacts with direct effects
- Establish consultation timelines
- Prescribe limits to judicial review
Read more here: steelnet.org/its-time-to-fix…
NEW: Debate over preservation law trips up permitting talks. Senate ENR Chair Mike Lee’s push to overhaul the National Historic Preservation Act is a new major sticking point. But some Dems say NHPA needs change for stalling clean energy projects subscriber.politicopro.com/a…
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Jun 9
Compliance with Byrd is not a science, and rulings are subjective, but “my amendment directly controlled federal spending, thus it was within the budget rules” betrays a basic misunderstanding of the procedural strictures at play here.
Jun 9
President Trump is right — the Senate Parliamentarian needs to go.
I said the same thing last year after she struck down my amendment ending taxpayer funding for sex reassignment procedures.
The Parliamentarian’s job is not to decide whether a policy is good or bad. It’s to determine whether a provision complies with the Senate’s budget rules governing reconciliation.
My amendment directly controlled federal spending, thus it was within the budget rules. The Parliamentarian ruled it out of order anyway.
Republicans are always told these decisions are neutral and beyond question. But when the Parliamentarian consistently blocks conservative priorities, while Democrats face no such obstacles, it's fair to ask whether the rules are being applied fairly.
Bottomline: the Parliamentarian serves at the pleasure of the Senate Majority Leader, not for life. If Republicans want to enact the agenda voters sent them to Washington to deliver, they have every right to replace her with someone who will apply the rules consistently.
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Pavan Venkatakrishnan retweeted
Your first instinct to most commercial activity should be “yes, so long as…” rather than “no, unless…”
The latter will make for a sclerotic formal private sector but also a stretched & incompetent public oversight. The License Raj wasn’t even good for shaping effective public institutions.
There are limits to what can be regulated well, pick your spots wisely
it's obviously not the whole story of why democrats have lost ground with the working class, but the fact that many democrats have historically and today want to ban more and more classes of construction and extraction has to be at least *some* of it
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Pavan Venkatakrishnan retweeted
it's obviously not the whole story of why democrats have lost ground with the working class, but the fact that many democrats have historically and today want to ban more and more classes of construction and extraction has to be at least *some* of it
Jun 8
A key insight here: despite the growing bipartisan groundswell against data centers, many politicians are holding back from tapping into the outrage.
On the right, because Trump supports data centers.
On left, because building trade unions support them. wapo.st/4erMwJM
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Pavan Venkatakrishnan retweeted
Tall and long infrastructure projects are disproportionately harmed by historic preservation review.
The taller and longer a project is, the larger the "viewshed", meaning more acres and historic sites to review.
Transmission and wind get screwed
x.com/ppavnr/status/20643382…
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Jun 9
Well said @BenSchifman
NEW: Debate over preservation law trips up permitting talks. Senate ENR Chair Mike Lee’s push to overhaul the National Historic Preservation Act is a new major sticking point. But some Dems say NHPA needs change for stalling clean energy projects subscriber.politicopro.com/a…
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Jun 9
Good explanation of how broken the listing regime is - another key focus of reform.
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Pavan Venkatakrishnan retweeted
Starting to realize why some people thought Pratt was going to win
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Pavan Venkatakrishnan retweeted
The thing about taking a stake in the AI labs is that now the government — ie its regulator — is directly implicated in the success of the labs it has a stake in
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