30 House Republicans Take Action to Overturn Biden's Gas Car Crackdown

by Thomas Catenacci (Fox News/Yahoo!) A group of more than 30 House Republicans is introducing a resolution Friday that would overturn President Biden's actions targeting gas-powered vehicles as part of his climate push.

The nearly three dozen GOP lawmakers, led by Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., are introducing the bill under the Congressional Review Act, a law dating back nearly three decades that allows Congress to revoke federal regulations. The resolution would block the stringent, multipollutant emission standards governing gas cars finalized last month by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

"Despite persistent pleas to keep his hands off our car keys, President Biden is doubling down on his radical EPA rule to institute a de facto EV mandate on our country," Clyde said in a statement to Fox News Digital. "Hardworking Americans already battling inflation simply cannot afford the President’s illegitimate power grab – nor should they be forced to bear this burden."

"American consumers always deserve the freedom to decide what car they purchase and drive," he continued. "Congress must prevent the Biden administration’s dangerous overreach from encumbering auto manufacturers, enriching Communist China, and crushing the American people."

Clyde's resolution earned endorsements from various pro-energy and conservative groups, including the American Energy Alliance, Americans for Prosperity, Eagle Forum and Heritage Action for America. Additionally, it represents the first formal congressional action taken in response to Biden's finalized emissions standards.

Under one so-called "low cost" model the EPA outlined in the rule, officials said automakers would be forced to ensure 56% of light-duty car sales are battery electric and another 13% are hybrid by 2032.

The EPA's regulations have been heavily criticized by some state officials, Republican and Democratic lawmakers, agriculture industry groups like the National Corn Growers Association and energy associations, such as the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers and the American Petroleum Institute.

The share of Americans who said they are considering an EV purchase has declined from 55% to 44% year-over-year, according to a Gallup poll conducted in March. READ MORE

Excerpt from E&E Daily: Republicans may have found a new Democratic partner in their effort to overturn the Biden administration’s new rule to incentivize the transition to electric vehicles, increasing the chances that Congress forces the president to veto an attack on a pillar of his climate agenda in an election year.

Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) on Wednesday (March 20, 2024) didn’t rule out voting with the GOP in the coming weeks on a resolution to undo the EPA’s so-called tailpipe emissions rule, which would mandate a major reduction in vehicular emissions as a means of forcing auto manufacturers to make cars that produce a lower carbon footprint, like EVs.

“I just know it’s part of a conversation that we need to have,” said Fetterman, in response to a question from E&E News about whether he would support rolling back the rule. “We need to respond to what seems to be the American consumer sentiment, what seems to be a diminished kind of enthusiasm, for EVs.”

On Wednesday, Fetterman said EPA’s final auto emissions rule “seems aggressive, and I know a lot of American consumers are uncertain about EVs. … I understand why we want to migrate more towards that, but at the end of the day, perhaps it might be overly aggressive.”

Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.) plans to soon introduce a resolution to roll back the rule through the Congressional Review Act, a procedural maneuver that guarantees consideration on the Senate floor and only needs a simple majority for adoption.

Democrats, who control the Senate, will lose the vote if as few as two lawmakers on their side of the aisle defect, and Manchin, the chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, appears poised to be one.

“The federal government has no authority and no right to mandate what type of car or truck Americans can purchase for their everyday lives,” he said in a statement.

“This reckless and ill-informed rule will impose what is effectively an EV mandate without ensuring the security of our supply chains from nations like China and without a realistic transition plan that addresses our domestic infrastructure needs.” READ MORE