Congress Takes Big Step Toward Dismantling Biden-Harris Admin’s Electric Vehicle Mandate
The House passed a bill Friday that would overturn the Biden-Harris administration’s de facto electric vehicle (EV) mandate if it becomes law. By a 215-191 vote, the House approved H.J. Res. 136, a bill that would…
The House passed a bill Friday that would overturn the Biden-Harris administration’s de facto electric vehicle (EV) mandate if it becomes law.
By a 215-191 vote, the House approved H.J. Res. 136, a bill that would vacate the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) tailpipe emissions standards for light-duty vehicles if it passes the Senate and is signed into law by President Joe Biden. Eight House Democrats crossed the aisle to side with Republicans in favoring the bill, while one GOP lawmaker — Pennsylvania Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick — voted against the legislation.
The eight Democrats who voted with Republicans were Reps. Yadira Caraveo of Colorado, Henry Cuellar of Texas, Don Davis of North Carolina, Jared Golden of Maine, Vicente Gonzalez of Texas, Marcy Kaptur of Ohio, Mary Peltola of Alaska and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington. Notably, Democratic Reps. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan and Collin Allred of Texas — both of whom are running for U.S. Senate — voted to preserve the EPA’s tailpipe emissions rules, which have been characterized as a de facto EV mandate because they will effectively force automakers to substantially increase EV production over the coming decade if enforced.
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Specifically, automakers will be in compliance with the EPA’s rules if EVs make up 56% of their new vehicle sales by 2032, with an additional 13% of sales being plug-in hybrids, according to The Associated Press. The Biden-Harris administration contends that the regulations do not amount to an EV mandate.
Critics, however, say the opposite.
“This EPA rulemaking is clearly beyond the scope of the regulatory power granted to the agency by Congress,” more than two dozen Energy-focused advocacy organizations wrote to lawmakers on Thursday. “While this overreach will be litigated in the courts, a positive decision now would ensure that consumers are protected today, rather than wait years for the issue to work its way through the court system.”
The Biden-Harris administration has a goal of having 50% of all new car sales be EVs by 2030 as one facet of its wider climate agenda. Despite billions of dollars of spending and aggressive regulation, consumers appear to still be hesitant to transition to all-electric models while automakers are burning large amounts of cash on their EV lines and starting to retreat from some short-term production targets.
Neither the EPA nor the White House responded immediately to requests for comment.
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