Nick Pope And Adam Pack
Senate Republicans are plowing ahead to terminate a Biden-era rule that effectively allows California to impose a national electric vehicle (EV) mandate.
The Biden Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) signed off on California’s “Advanced Clean Cars II” — which would ban the sale of gas-powered vehicles in the state and 11 others by 2035 — just weeks before the Trump administration took control in Washington. Republican West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito unveiled a resolution Friday afternoon to repeal that vehicle emissions rule despite an adverse ruling from a congressional watchdog and a nonpartisan Senate official arguing the EPA waiver was not subject to the Congressional Review Act (CRA).
Capito continued to argue that the California EV waivers are rules that can be repealed under the CRA in a statement Friday.
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Republican Sens. Deb Fischer of Nebraska and Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma also introduced resolutions Friday to terminate California’s vehicle emission rules establishing a de facto ban on heavy-duty trucks and diesel engines.
House Republicans, led by Rep. John Joyce of Pennsylvania, Jay Obernolte of California and John James of Michigan, moved forward in introducing a CRA resolution to overturn the California EV waivers Wednesday night.
Republicans will need simple majority votes in both chambers to send the CRA resolutions to President Donald Trump’s desk for signature, assuming GOP leadership moves forward in repealing the measures. Trump strongly opposed Biden-era regulations forcing EVs on American consumers on the campaign trail and signed an executive order eliminating EV mandates on his first day in office on Jan. 20.
