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The Senate on Thursday voted to revoke three vehicle emissions waivers
in California, a controversial move that the chamber's parliamentarian
says Republican lawmakers may not have the right to make.
The vote was 51-44, with Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan
joining Republicans in voting in favor of revoking the waivers.
Ahead of the vote, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York
Democrat, called it "the nuclear option."
The three waivers the Senate revoked set stricter vehicle emissions
standards than federal regulations. Two waivers relate to reducing
tailpipe emissions from medium and heavy-duty vehicles, as well as
limiting smog pollution from trucks.
The last is what's frequently called California's "EV mandate," a rule
that aims to phase-out gas powered cars and require all new vehicle
sales in California be zero emissions by 2035. The rule to phase out gas powered vehicles goes into effect in 2026.
California was granted the ability to enact stricter vehicle emissions standards than the federal government under the Clean Air Act in a
process that involves receiving a waiver from the Environmental
Protection Agency if the regulations meet certain requirements. The
three waivers in question were approved by the Biden administration's Environmental Protection Agency in 2024.
Republicans argue that the Congressional Review Act gives Congress the
ability to overturn rules passed by federal agencies — including the
waivers — by a simple majority vote, but nonpartisan government
watchdogs do not agree. The Government Accountability Office and the
Senate parliamentarian found that the Congressional Review Act could not
be used to vote down California's waivers because the waivers are not
the same as rules, according to Senate Democrats.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a South Dakota Republican who
supported revoking the waivers, said in remarks Tuesday on the Senate
floor that "the EPA has submitted the waivers to Congress as rules —
which is all that Congress has ever needed to decide to consider
something under the Congressional Review Act."
But Democrats say such a vote is illegal, and argue overruling the parliamentarian and bypassing the filibuster sets a dangerous precedent.
"If they invoke this nuclear option now, they should expect that a
future Democratic government will have to revisit decades worth of
paltry corporate settlements, deferred prosecution agreements, and tax
rulings that were overly favorable to multinationals and ultra-wealthy individuals," said Senate Finance Committee ranking member Ron Wyden, an
Oregon Democrat, in a statement.
The California Air Resources Board, a state body that designed the
vehicle emissions regulations and requested the waivers, measures and
sets pollution standards in California to comply with the Clean Air Act.
It claims that the state has applied for over 100 waivers that have
resulted in vehicles being 99% cleaner in terms of pollution, compared
to vehicles from 1970. The board says they have never had a waiver
revoked in the 50 years it has had the ability to enact them.
"The law is that the Clean Air Act says California can set its own
standards if they are more stringent, more environmentally protective
than whatever the federal government standard is," said Mary Nichols,
who was the California Air Resources Board chairwoman from 1975-1982 and
then from 2007-2020. Nichols told CBS News that if Congress uses
Congressional Review Act to revoke the waivers, the state of California
will sue the federal government.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom and state Attorney General Rob Bonta
announced Thursday that they would sue the Trump administration over the
vote.
"This Senate vote is illegal," Newsom said. "Republicans went around
their own parliamentarian to defy decades of precedent. We won't stand
by as Trump Republicans make America smoggy again — undoing work that
goes back to the days of Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan — all while
ceding our economic future to China. We're going to fight this
unconstitutional attack on California in court."
Voting down California's waivers is expected to impact cities and states
across the country, as 16 additional states and the District of Columbia
have adopted California's vehicle standards.
Republicans have staunchly criticized California's emissions rules,
especially the one aimed at driving the auto industry toward electric
vehicles.
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, a West Virginia Republican who chairs the
Senate Environmental and Public Works Committee, said this week that the
rules amount to "forcing certain states and certain consumers to
purchase a vehicle that they may not want or that they can't find."
The auto industry has been pushing for Republicans to revoke
California's waivers. The Specialty Equipment Market Association
represents the automotive aftermarket industry, where a third of its
businesses are dependent on internal combustion engines and see the
waivers and expansion of electric vehicles as a threat to business.
"The death of California's waiver will give life to more than 330,000
American jobs and preserves over $100 billion of economic impact to the nation's economy," the association said in a statement.
But environmental groups are alarmed by the unprecedented use of the Congressional Review Act to revoke the waivers. The Environmental
Defense Fund said in a statement that a vote by Congress would undermine California's ability to address pollution.
"Using the CRA on EPA's preemption waivers could create a precedent for sweeping congressional nullifications of other executive actions that
are outside the scope of the CRA — from decisions about Americans' eligibility for Social Security, to waivers for state Medicaid or
veterans' health benefits, to actions related to energy infrastructure projects," the group said.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/senate-gop-set-to-revoke-californias-car-emi ssions-standards-nuclear-option/
Letting millions of illegal aliens into the country is illegal, yet
Democrats did it anyway. The Senate has spoken.
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