Senate Will Try to Block California Vehicle Standards that Would Phase out Gas-Powered Cars

May 21, 2025

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by Mary Clare Jalonick and Matthew Daly (Associated Press) The U.S. Senate will move this week to block California from enforcing a series of vehicle emissions standards that are tougher than the federal government’s, including first-in-the-nation rules phasing out the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035.

Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said Tuesday that the Senate will begin to consider three House-passed resolutions that would roll back the standards. Final votes could come as soon as this week.

His announcement came despite significant pushback from Democrats, questions from some Republicans and the advice of the Senate Parliamentarian, who has sided with the U.S. Government Accountability Office in saying California’s policies are not subject to the review mechanism used by the House.

The resolutions would block California’s rules to phase out the gas-powered cars, along with standards to cut tailpipe emissions from medium- and heavy-duty vehicles and curb smog-forming nitrogen oxide pollution from trucks. Like the House, Senate Republicans are using the Congressional Review Act, a law aimed at improving congressional oversight of actions by federal agencies, to try to block the rules. The Trump administration in 2019 revoked California’s ability to enforce its own emissions standards, but Biden later restored the state’s authority.

Republicans have argued that the rules effectively dictate standards for the whole country, imposing what would eventually be a nationwide electric vehicle mandate. Around a dozen states have already followed California’s lead.

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Plug-in hybrids and used gas cars could still be sold.

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“Legislation to repeal these waivers should be subject to a 60-vote threshold,” Schumer said.

Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse said he’s concerned about precedent. “We are opening up a Pandora’s Box of multiple abuses,” Whitehouse said. READ MORE

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Excerpt from Politico Pro E&E Daily: Senate Republicans set up the process late Wednesday night to overturn California’s electric vehicle mandate, using a novel procedural maneuver to overcome a negative ruling from the chamber's rules referee.

Democrats — who have accused the majority of breaking the rules and threatening the filibuster — protested by moving repeatedly to recess or adjourn. Lawmakers spent hours voting late into the night.

Republicans want to take up House-passed Congressional Review Act resolutions to repeal Biden-era EPA waivers for new California vehicle pollution rules. Those regulations are meant to promote the use of EVs and phase out gasoline-powered cars.

But the Government Accountability Office and the Senate's parliamentarian said the Biden Clean Air Act waivers were not rules under the CRA. That law allows lawmakers and the president to undo recently issued regulations by simple majority.

Republicans had to jump through procedural hoops to assert the chamber's power to decide what counts as a rule under the CRA. READ MORE

Excerpt from Politico: The Senate voted Thursday to nix a California emission standards waiver after Republicans effectively skirted guidance from their own rules-keeper that the Biden-era action did not qualify for reversal using the Congressional Review Act process.

The 51-44 vote on a disapproval resolution under the Congressional Review Act, which allows senators to overturn administration rulemaking with a simple majority, capped off weeks of internal deliberations within the GOP conference about how to move forward.

All Republicans voted “yes,” with every Democrat opposing — except for Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan. Dozens of Democrats previously voted to overturn this waiver in the House, showing how a ramped-up fight over the implications for the chamber’s rules poisoned the well of potential bipartisan support for the underlying policy.

The resolution was the first of three targeting clean vehicle rules passed by California and blessed in the final months of the Biden administration. That includes a rule that would phase out new gasoline-fueled cars by 2035 and require an increasing percentage of new heavy-duty vehicles be zero-emissions over the next decade.

Internally, the disapproval resolutions sparked weeks of internal wrangling. The dilemma for Republicans: There’s widespread opposition for the Biden-era EPA waivers that effectively let California set its own emissions standards. But the Government Accountability Office found that the waivers don’t qualify under the Congressional Review Act, and Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough backed up that finding.

Underscoring the sensitivity of the internal deliberations, Senate Republicans were tight-lipped about how they would get around the GAO — and, by extension, the parliamentarian. Under questioning from Democrats, MacDonough disclosed this week — through a GOP senator presiding over the chamber — that she had advised leadership offices that the waivers did not qualify for reversal via a Congressional Review Act resolution. Republicans insist she ultimately deferred to GAO.

In the end, Republicans avoided a direct confrontation on the Senate floor over the parliamentarian by instead effectively kicking the question about what qualifies under the Congressional Review Act back to the Senate to determine.

“I believe that when the Senate is facing a novel situation like this one with disagreement among its members, it is appropriate for the Senate to speak as a body to the question. Something the Senate does when questions over applications of rules arise,” said Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.).

To get to the Senate to this point, Thune and Majority Whip John Barrasso spent weeks pitching their own ranks that this fight was really a question about the Senate’s power aimed at narrowly checking GAO, which they argued made it a political decision. And some of their members pressed them to find a way around directly overruling the parliamentarian, something many in their ranks weren’t comfortable doing.

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Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) has already pledged to slow-walk four EPA nominees, and Democrats are actively discussing other steps they can take, including bringing up their own disapproval resolutions under the Congressional Review Act, although Trump’s veto power would prevent any resolution targeting his administration’s decisions from becoming law.

Democrats also worry that the GOP’s latest moves will make it more likely that Republicans will sidestep the parliamentarian later this year on their party-line domestic policy bill, which passed the House early Thursday morning. MacDonough will need to bless that the bill complies with the strict rules that govern what can be included under the budget reconciliation process.

Barrasso, in an interview, said there would not be the support to overrule MacDonough’s rulings surrounding the party-line policy bill when it’s due to land on the Senate floor next month. READ MORE

Excerpt from Advanced Clean Tech News: Congress disapproved the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency waivers given to California for that state’s recent zero- and low- emission regulations. Three joint resolutions —H.J.Res. 87, 88, and 89 — used the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to revoke the previous federal authorization for California to implement the Advanced Clean Cars II (ACC II), Advanced Clean Trucks (ACT), and Heavy-Duty Low NOx Omnibus (Omnibus) regulations. The resolutions have passed both the Senate and House and are expected to be signed into law by the White House. If enacted, these resolutions would prevent California, and any states that opt into California’s rules, from implementing these zero-emission requirements.

On May 21, the Senate voted 51 to 44 to overturn the EPA waiver granted to California to enforce ACC II, which mandates all new passenger cars, trucks, and SUVs to be zero emission by 2035. On May 22, the Senate voted to overturn the EPA waivers granted to California to enforce the ACT and Omnibus rules, which mandate zero emission medium- and heavy-duty truck sales through 2035 and set stricter tailpipe emissions standards for medium- and heavy-duty trucks. The ACT waiver also includes the Zero Emission Airport Shuttle regulation and Zero Emissions Powertrain (ZEP) certification.

In response, California’s Governor Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta announced today that the state will file a lawsuit, focusing on the role of the CRA to overturn the waivers. While the CRA can enable the repeal of recently approved regulations with a simple majority, procedural questions have been raised the applicability of this process for waivers.

As Governor Newsom noted in a press release, U.S. Congress is “using the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to attempt to revoke California’s Clean Air Act waivers, which authorize California’s clean cars and trucks program. This defies decades of precedent of these waivers not being subject to the CRA and contradicts the non-partisan Government Accountability Office and Senate Parliamentarian, who both ruled that the CRA’s short-circuited process does not apply to the waivers.” The chair of the California Air Resources Board, Liane Randolph, also released a statement underscoring California’s intent to “pursue every available remedy to challenge these actions.”

These congressional actions and California’s response follow months of uncertainty over implementation and market readiness in states across the country. Aside from these federal legislative efforts, Maryland, Massachusetts, Oregon, and Vermont recently decided to delay the implementation of their own adoption of California’s Advanced Clean Trucks rule.

On May 13, Vermont Governor Phil Scott issued an executive order postponing the state’s compliance with the ACT rule until at least 2027. Governor Scott cited insufficient charging infrastructure and technological limitations in heavy-duty electric vehicles as primary reasons for the delay. The executive order directs state enforcement agencies not to issue fines or penalties for noncompliance during this period. Additionally, the order postpones Vermont’s compliance with another California rule that creates zero-emission mandates for heavy-duty trucks.

Similarly, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) announced a pause in the enforcement of its Advanced Clean Trucks rule a few days later, effective immediately, for the 2025 and 2026 model years. DEQ Director Leah Feldon acknowledged the challenges faced by the trucking industry in meeting the new requirements, stating that the pause is intended to provide temporary relief while maintaining progress toward Oregon’s environmental goals. READ MORE