Newsom Furious As US Senate Votes To Block Electric Vehicle Rules In California

In a major blow to climate activists, the US Senate has voted to overturn the electric vehicle mandate in the state of California

On Thursday the Senate voted to bar California’s landmark plan to end the sale of gasoline-only vehicles by 2035 that had been adopted by 11 other states.

California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and state Attorney General Rob Bonta responded by announcing plans to file a lawsuit in response to the vote, which the said was “unlawful.”

CBS reports: The vote was 51-44, with Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan joining Republicans in voting in favor of revoking the waivers.

WEF Claims All Humanity Falls on Pedophilia Spectrum: ‘Sex With Children is Natural’

Ahead of the vote, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, called it “the nuclear option.” 

The three waivers the Senate revoked set stricter vehicle emissions standards than federal regulations. Two waivers relate to reducing tailpipe emissions from medium and heavy-duty vehicles, as well as limiting smog pollution from trucks. 

The last is what’s frequently called California’s “EV mandate,” a rule that aims to phase-out gas powered cars and require all new vehicle sales in California be zero emissions by 2035. The rule to phase out gas powered vehicles goes into effect in 2026.

California was granted the ability to enact stricter vehicle emissions standards than the federal government under the Clean Air Act in a process that involves receiving a waiver from the Environmental Protection Agency if the regulations meet certain requirements. The three waivers in question were approved by the Biden administration’s Environmental Protection Agency in 2024.

Republicans argue that the Congressional Review Act gives Congress the ability to overturn rules passed by federal agencies —  including the waivers — by a simple majority vote, but nonpartisan government watchdogs do not agree. The Government Accountability Office and the Senate parliamentarian found that the Congressional Review Act could not be used to vote down California’s waivers because the waivers are not the same as rules, according to Senate Democrats. 

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a South Dakota Republican who supported revoking the waivers, said in remarks Tuesday on the Senate floor that “the EPA has submitted the waivers to Congress as rules — which is all that Congress has ever needed to decide to consider something under the Congressional Review Act.” 

But Democrats say such a vote is illegal, and argue overruling the parliamentarian and bypassing the filibuster sets a dangerous precedent. 

“If they invoke this nuclear option now, they should expect that a future Democratic government will have to revisit decades worth of paltry corporate settlements, deferred prosecution agreements, and tax rulings that were overly favorable to multinationals and ultra-wealthy individuals,” said Senate Finance Committee ranking member Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, in a statement. 

The California Air Resources Board, a state body that designed the vehicle emissions regulations and requested the waivers, measures and sets pollution standards in California to comply with the Clean Air Act. It claims that the state has applied for over 100 waivers that have resulted in vehicles being 99% cleaner in terms of pollution, compared to vehicles from 1970. The board says they have never had a waiver revoked in the 50 years it has had the ability to enact them.

“The law is that the Clean Air Act says California can set its own standards if they are more stringent, more environmentally protective than whatever the federal government standard is,” said Mary Nichols, who was the California Air Resources Board chairwoman from 1975-1982 and then from 2007-2020. Nichols told CBS News that if Congress uses Congressional Review Act to revoke the waivers, the state of California will sue the federal government.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom and state Attorney General Rob Bonta announced Thursday that they would sue the Trump administration over the vote.