Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has overcome Democrat opposition to proceeding to a vote this week on overturning California’s electric vehicle mandate.
In a 53-to-46 party-line vote, the Senate on Wednesday moved to proceed with a vote on revoking a Biden-era Environmental Protection Agency exemption that enabled California to ban the sales of new gasoline-powered cars and trucks in the state in 2035. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., did not vote.
The House of Representatives has already voted to revoke the EPA exemption. The Senate vote—which is exempt from the filibuster due to coming under the purview of the Congressional Review Act—is likely to result in a successful overturning of the EPA regulation.
Thune’s move for a vote on reviewing the EPA exemption comes after significant procedural hurdles. The Government Accountability Office had controversially stated that the Senate could not revoke the Biden-era EPA regulation because it did not qualify as a “rule.” The GAO is an independent and ostensibly nonpartisan government agency that exists to provide support services for Congress.
Thune addressed the GAO ruling on the Senate floor.
“It’s an extraordinary deviation from precedent for an agency that should be defending Congress’ power instead of constraining it,” Thune declared, noting that “we [the Senate] need to act to ensure that this intrusion into the Congressional Review Act process doesn’t become a habit, and that the Senate doesn’t end up transferring its decision-making power on CRA resolutions to the Government Accountability Office.”
The Senate majority leader is also holding the vote against the recommendation of the Senate parliamentarian, who said the EPA exemption was not subject to the Congressional Review Act, but this is not the first time the parliamentarian has been ignored. Democrats overruled the Senate parliamentarian in 2011 on whether Republicans could add unrelated amendments to a bill about China currency.
Notably, the House parliamentarian did not rule that the CRA did not apply to the matter.
Thune addressed concerns that the Senate was violating norms by disregarding the parliamentarian. “We are not talking about doing anything to erode the institutional character of the Senate; in fact, we are talking about preserving the Senate’s prerogatives.”
The South Dakota Republican detailed the potentially massive economic consequences if the EV mandate were allowed to take effect.
“Under California’s electric vehicle mandate, automakers around the country would be forced to close down a substantial part of their traditional vehicle production, with serious consequences. Diminished economic output. Job losses. Declining tax revenues,” Thune said.
Thune also pointed out the many infrastructure challenges that an EV mandate would impose on the power grid.
“We are—to quote a Washington Post headline from last March—‘running out of power,’ as a surge in demand and the premature retirement of fossil fuel-fired power plants push us to the brink. Our electric grid is simply not in a position to absorb a huge surge in electric vehicles,” he said.
California’s ban has ramifications for the entire automobile market of the U.S. not only because of the state’s huge market share, but also because it has inspired about a dozen other states to follow California’s lead.
“It’s a really problematic policy, because it’s not just economically destructive, but it’s also because of [California’s] size. It influences things well beyond our borders,” Wayne Winegarden, a senior fellow in business and economics at the Pacific Research Institute, told The Daily Signal.
This article was originally published at www.dailysignal.com
