The U.S. Senate voted 51-46 to approve a resolution of disapproval against California’s Clean Air Act waiver that allows it to mandate that 100% of the cars sold in the state be electric vehicles starting in 2035.
The measure, which the Senate approved late May 21, was approved by the House of Representatives earlier in the month and now moves to the White House; it was a goal of President Donald Trump’s Day 1 executive order on “Unleashing American Energy.”
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) helped lead the effort under the Congressional Review Act in the Senate. She welcomed the outcome in a statement decrying Democrats’ efforts to block the vote.
“The impact of … California’s waiver would have been felt across the country, harming multiple sectors of our economy and costing hundreds of thousands of jobs in the process,” Capito said.
Democrats said the Republicans “went nuclear” to get around the 60-vote requirement to overcome a filibuster to pass the resolution ending the mandate, overruling the Senate parliamentarian, who had found the waiver was not subject to the CRA.
“Under this logic, the Trump administration could send an endless stream of non-rule actions to Congress, going back to 1996, including: vaccine approvals, broadcast licenses, merger approvals and any number of government decisions that apply to President Trump’s long list of enemies,” Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) said in remarks on the Senate floor. “All it would take is a minority of 30 senators to introduce related bills, and the Senate would be bogged down voting on agency grocery lists all day.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) blasted the Senate vote for going around normal procedures and promised to challenge the resolution.
“We won’t stand by as Trump Republicans make America smoggy again — undoing work that goes back to the days of Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan — all while ceding our economic future to China,” Newsom said in a statement. “We’re going to fight this unconstitutional attack on California in court.”
World Resources Institute Senior Fellow Dan Lashof said the resolution’s approval goes against nearly 50 years of precedent that has allowed California and other states to adopt vehicle emissions standards that exceed federal rules.
“The U.S. auto industry’s competitiveness in the global market depends on innovation, which has historically been and continues to be driven by California standards,” Lashof said. “People across the country want cleaner, more efficient cars, trucks and school buses, and the cleaner air that results.”
Twelve other states have passed measures to use the standards developed under California’s waiver, the Consumer Energy Alliance said in a statement welcoming the Senate’s vote.
“The Senate’s actions today represent a crucial step toward preserving consumer choice by preventing policies that would make energy and transportation more expensive and less reliable for everyday Americans,” CEA President David Holt said. “We urge President Trump to swiftly sign House Joint Resolution 88 into law.”
