The House voted to axe the Biden administration’s approval of the California rules, which aim to cut pollution and planet-warming emissions from trucks, using a tool known as the Congressional Review Act (CRA).
The CRA allows Congress, with just a simple majority in both chambers and presidential approval, to reverse recent regulations, evading the Senate filibuster’s 60-vote threshold. It’s sometimes used at the start of a new administration to eliminate regulations put forward by the last one.
However, the votes come in defiance of the Government Accountability Office (GAO), a nonpartisan congressional watchdog that sometimes issues legal opinions.
That office has determined that because the EPA’s approval came in the form of a waiver rather than a rule, it is not subject to the CRA.
By holding the votes anyway, House Republicans are demonstrating that they are willing to carry out their agenda regardless of whether the nonpartisan arbiter deems them legal.
Senate Republicans, who also want to go after California’s rules, are facing a similar challenge. The Senate parliamentarian, a rules authority for the upper chamber, has also ruled that the waivers allowing the rules to go forward are not subject to the CRA.
Senate Republicans have signaled that they could seek to defy the parliamentarian, but have not yet said definitively whether they actually plan to do so.
If they do, they could be setting up a legal and procedural kerfuffle — especially as the parliamentarian also sets the rules for what provisions can go into a high-stakes budget package that also evades the filibuster.
The House was initially slated to also vote to axe California’s phaseout of gas-powered cars, but postponed that vote until Thursday.
Welcome to The Hill’s Energy & Environment newsletter, I’m Rachel Frazin — keeping you up to speed on the policies impacting everything from oil and gas to new supply chains.
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