Senate Republicans Move To Nuke California EV Mandate Despite Procedural Hurdle

Senate Republicans are plowing ahead to terminate a Biden-era rule that effectively allows California to impose a national electric vehicle (EV) mandate.

The Biden Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) signed off on California’s “Advanced Clean Cars II” — which would ban the sale of gas-powered vehicles in the state and 11 others by 2035 — just weeks before the Trump administration took control in Washington. Republican West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito unveiled a resolution Friday afternoon to repeal that vehicle emissions rule despite an adverse ruling from a congressional watchdog and a nonpartisan Senate official arguing the EPA waiver was not subject to the Congressional Review Act (CRA).

Capito continued to argue that the California EV waivers are rules that can be repealed under the CRA in a statement Friday.

Republican Sens. Deb Fischer of Nebraska and Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma also introduced resolutions Friday to terminate California’s vehicle emission rules establishing a de facto ban on heavy-duty trucks and diesel engines.

House Republicans, led by Rep. John Joyce of Pennsylvania, Jay Obernolte of California and John James of Michigan, moved forward in introducing a CRA resolution to overturn the California EV waivers Wednesday night.

Republicans will need simple majority votes in both chambers to send the CRA resolutions to President Donald Trump’s desk for signature, assuming GOP leadership moves forward in repealing the measures. Trump strongly opposed Biden-era regulations forcing EVs on American consumers on the campaign trail and signed an executive order eliminating EV mandates on his first day in office on Jan. 20.

Repealing California’s de facto EV mandate would be a major win for congressional Republicans as they work to dismantle the Biden administration’s left-wing climate agenda. Capito notably vowed to reverse the Biden administration’s California waiver in December.

Some industry stakeholders opposed to California’s EV mandate were concerned that Republicans would fail to initiate the repeal within the 60-day lookback window required by the CRA.

The Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA), a trade group representing companies in the auto aftermarket, wrote to Republican leaders Monday to urge them to schedule votes on the CRA resolutions as soon as possible.

“California should not be allowed to establish national policies,” SEMA argued in the letter, citing a statistic that 40% of American consumers would be impacted by the vehicle emissions rule.

The Advanced Clean Cars II rules are slated to come into effect for model year 2026 and incrementally phase out the sale of new gas-powered cars until they are entirely prohibited in model year 2035. Eleven states — Colorado, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington and Vermont — as well as Washington, D.C., all intend to implement the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) standard, as permitted by the Biden EPA’s waiver.

By using the Congressional Review Act, the Trump EPA is doing what no EPA under Democratic or Republican administrations in 50 years has ever done, and what the U.S. Government Accountability Office has confirmed does not comply with the law,” CARB spokeswoman Lindsay Buckley told the DCNF.

Karen Bailey-Chapman, SEMA’s senior vice president of public and government affairs, told the 🏢Daily Caller News Foundation that the time for Congress to terminate the vehicle emission rules has arrived.

“Voters have spoken on this issue. This is a central campaign issue for the President, and it was a major issue for members elected to both the Senate and the House,” Bailey-Chapman said. “The voters have been very clear about how they feel about these policies. The time to act is now.”

In response to the news that Joyce introduced his resolution, SEMA stated “LFG,” an acronym used colloquially to stand for “let’s freaking go,” or equivalents.

Congressional Republicans are expected to rally around terminating the EPA waiver that allowed California to move forward with imposing a de facto EV mandate on millions of Americans beyond its borders. However, various procedural hurdles appeared to slow the process down, making some opponents of the rule grow antsy in the interim.

Capito, the chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, and House Republicans indicated in February that they would introduce CRA resolutions in their respective chambers, but several weeks elapsed without those steps being taken.

Democratic Sens. Alex Padilla of California, Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Adam Schiff of California sought an opinion from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) in February as to whether or not the CRA can be used to walk back EPA’s waiver approval greenlighting “Advanced Clean Cars II.” GAO ultimately determined in a statement released on March 6 that the EPA waivers were not subject to the CRA.

Capito, as the lead Republican on the Senate EPW Committee, immediately dismissed the ruling, arguing the California waiver is a rule and subject to CRA consideration.

“By submitting these waivers, the Trump EPA is complying with the law and giving Congress the opportunity to reject California’s effort to impose its EV

The GAO ruling, while slammed by Republicans for contradicting the Trump EPA’s determination that the California waiver should be treated as a rule, nevertheless opened the door for Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough to get involved. Senators from both parties met with MacDonough to make the case for and against whether the CRA can be used to repeal the California waivers.MacDonough ruled on Friday that California’s vehicle emission waivers are not “rules” and not subject to the CRA process, according to a joint press release from Senate Democrats.

A spokesperson for Capito told the DCNF that she continues to believe the waivers are rules and introduced the CRA resolutions to “preserve all options.”

“Chairman Capito continues to work with her colleagues and Senate Republican leadership to determine steps forward in this process,” the spokesperson said.

While some opponents of the vehicle emissions rules worried about the delays in introducing the respective CRA resolutions, Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso told the DCNF that lawmakers still have ample time to get it done.

Specifically, Barrasso explained that the window to repeal the EV mandate rule will not lapse in the immediate future because the Trump administration was delayed in sending the rule to Congress for CRA consideration.

Opponents of the California rules are optimistic Senate Republicans will ultimately achieve a full repeal of the de facto EV mandate, despite the uncertainty over how GOP senators plan to move forward in light of the adverse ruling from the parliamentarian.

“Leadership in the House and Senate recognize that this is an important piece of President Trump’s commitment to restoring consumer choice in our ability to purchase automobiles that we want to purchase,” Tom Pyle, president of the Institute for Energy Research, told the DCNF. “The pieces are in place, they’re aware of the deadlines, and I’m confident that they will deliver for President Trump and the American people.”

Senate Republicans’ intention to move full steam ahead in challenging the adverse GAO ruling could spell the end of California’s rules given that GOP lawmakers have routinely voted against Biden-era climate regulations, including rules forcing EVs on consumers.

“The American people have made it clear that they want consumer choice – not an EV mandate,” Capito said in a statement Friday.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated with comment from CARB

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