House Votes to Revoke California’s Clean Cars Rule

May 02, 2025

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by: James Bikales and Alex Nieves (Politico Pro) Thirty-five Democrats joined all Republicans in voting to clear the Congressional Review Act resolution. -- The House voted Thursday (May 1, 2025) to overturn California’s nation-leading clean cars rule, setting up a high-stakes vote in the Senate that could shape the trajectory of the electric vehicle transition.

What happened: Thirty-five Democrats joined all Republicans in voting to clear the Congressional Review Act resolution, H.J. Res. 88 from Rep. John Joyce (R-Pa.), which would overturn a waiver the Biden administration granted the state to set its Advanced Clean Cars II rule. That rule, which phases out gas-powered and hybrid vehicle sales by 2035, is followed by nearly a dozen other states.

That number of Democrats backing the CRA represented a notable jump from Wednesday night's votes to revoke similar rules for heavy-duty trucks, which garnered support from around a dozen Democrats.

Why it matters: House passage of the three measures puts the onus on the Senate, where parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough, who acts as the Senate’s independent referee, told lawmakers she doesn’t believe the CRA can be used to overturn California’s rules. Her ruling followed a Government Accountability Office opinion issued in March saying that California’s waivers aren’t federal rules subject to the CRA. READ MORE

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Excerpt from Reuters: Republicans argue rules increase vehicle prices, burdening families and truckers

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The House also voted to repeal an EPA waiver issued in December under former President Joe Biden for California's “Omnibus” low-NOx regulation for heavy-duty highway and off-road vehicles and engines.

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The California Air Resources Board said Wednesday the votes violate the Congressional Review Act and nonpartisan analyses of the U.S. Government Accountability Office and the Senate Parliamentarian.

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Republican Representative John James said the rules would increase vehicle prices for consumers and automakers, and would "force costly transitions to electric trucks, driving up prices for goods and disproportionately burdening working families and truckers across the country."

Under an executive order California Governor Gavin Newsom signed in 2020, California plans to mandate by 2045 that all operations of medium- and heavy-duty vehicles be zero-emission where feasible, shifting away from diesel-powered trucks.

CARB says heavy-duty vehicles greater than 14,000 pounds (6.4 tonnes) comprised 3% of vehicles on California roads, but account for more than 50% of nitrogen oxides and fine particle diesel pollution.

The NOx rule cuts heavy-duty emissions by 90% and is expected to result in $23 billion in health benefits from reduced illnesses and other improvements.

Transportation is the largest source of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, making up 29% of emissions, and heavy-duty vehicles are the second-largest contributor, at 23%. READ MORE

Excerpt from NBC Bay Area/Associated Press: “The passage of these resolutions is a victory for Americans who will not be forced into purchasing costly EVs because of California’s unworkable mandates,” House Republicans Brett Guthrie of Kentucky and Morgan Griffith of Virginia, said in a statement. “If not repealed, the California waivers would lead to higher prices for both new and used vehicles, increase our reliance on China, and strain our electric grid.”

California for decades has been given the authority to adopt vehicle emissions standards that are stricter than the federal government’s. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2020 announced plans to ban the sale of all new gas-powered vehicles in the state by 2035, as part of an aggressive effort to lower emissions from the transportation sector. Plug-in hybrids and used gas cars could still be sold.

State regulators then formalized the rules, some other states announced plans to follow them, and the Biden administration approved the state’s waiver to implement them in December, a month before President Donald Trump returned to office.

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Newsom said the effort is another signal of Republicans’ ideological shift over the decades from an era in which former presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan signed landmark environmental laws to one in which Trump is pushing for environmental rollbacks on everything from clean air to clean water and climate change.

“Clean air didn’t used to be political,” Newsom said in a statement. “Our vehicles program helps clean the air for all Californians, and we’ll continue defending it.”

A spokesperson for the California Air Resources Board, which passed the vehicle emission standards, said the agency “will continue its mission to protect the public health of Californians impacted by harmful air pollution.”

It is unclear what will happen in the Senate. The Senate Parliamentarian in April reaffirmed the GAO’s findings that California’s Clean Air Act waivers are not subject to the Congressional Review Act, according to California Sen. Adam Schiff’s office.

“We will fight this latest attack on California’s power to protect its own residents, and I will urge my colleagues in the Senate to recognize the severe implications of proceeding with this violation of states’ rights, as well as the dangerous precedent it would set by flouting the unanimous opinion of Congress’ trusted arbiters,” the Democrat said in a statement.

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Dan Becker, director of the Center for Biological Diversity’s Safe Climate Transport Campaign, called the use of the Congressional Review Act a “backdoor move” that “shows just how recklessly Republicans behave.”

“Republicans may regret opening this Pandora’s box, inviting attacks on many other non-rules in the future when they’re no longer in charge,” Becker said in a statement.

But the American Petroleum Institute and the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers applauded Thursday’s vote, calling it a “huge win for U.S. consumers.” READ MORE; includes VIDEO

Excerpt from Washington Post: Under the Clean Air Act, California can receive a waiver from the Environmental Protection Agency to set tougher vehicle emissions standards than those of the federal government. California regulators approved a rule in 2022 that would phase out sales of new gas-powered cars by 2035, and in December under President Joe Biden, the EPA granted the state a waiver to enforce the regulation.

Eleven other states have pledged to adopt California’s rule and end sales of gas cars within their own borders by 2035. Together, the states account for about 40 percent of the U.S. auto market.

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But Republicans and business groups have slammed these moves, saying they will prevent consumers from choosing what kind of cars to drive.

Rep. John Joyce (R-Pennsylvania) introduced a resolution to revoke California’s waiver under the Congressional Review Act, which allows lawmakers to nullify a regulation within 60 days of its enactment with a simple majority vote.

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Yet the Senate parliamentarian, the nonpartisan arbiter of the upper chamber’s rules and procedures, ruled last month that the waiver is not a regulation subject to the Congressional Review Act. The Government Accountability Office issued a similar legal opinion in March.

When asked about these legal findings on Monday, Joyce said, “Let me get back to you because I am not clued in on that.” He declined to comment further as aides whisked him away to another engagement after the Rules Committee meeting.

Rep. Paul Tonko (D-New York) warned that passage of the resolution could set a dangerous precedent.

“It would represent an extraordinary, illegal expansion of the use of the Congressional Review Act, which ultimately could threaten far more than just California’s vehicle standards,” Tonko told the Rules Committee. “Other executive actions like approval of state waivers for Medicaid programs and energy infrastructure permits could be blocked in the future.”

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A spokeswoman for California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) suggested that he could challenge the waiver revocation in court. “All legal options are on the table,” spokeswoman Christine Lee said in an email.

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Regardless of action on Capitol Hill, the EPA could revoke California’s waivers on its own. But that process could take months, whereas lawmakers can act immediately under the Congressional Review Act. READ MORE