The House passed a measure that would prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency from finalizing a rule imposing emission standards for certain vehicles — marking another effort by House Republicans to tackle the Biden administration’s regulations on climate and pollution.
The measure, however, faces long odds in the Senate — and is expected to be vetoed if it ever reaches the White House.
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The bill, passed 221-197, moved across the House floor mainly on party lines, with five Democrats voting with Republicans to pass the measure: Reps. Henry Cuellar (D-TX), Don Davis (D-NC), Jared Golden (D-ME), Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX), and Mary Peltola (D-AK). Introduced by Reps. Tim Walberg (R-MI) and Andrew Clyde (R-GA), the measure takes aim at the Biden administration’s efforts to electrify the country’s cars, with GOP lawmakers arguing the measure is an “EV mandate” that limits consumer choice.
“Not only does this EV mandate display breathtaking government overreach into the auto industry, but it’s also unaffordable, unattainable, and unrealistic for American consumers,” Walberg said on the House floor on Wednesday.
In April, the EPA proposed a rule to set more stringent standards for light and medium-duty vehicles of model years between 2027 and 2032. GOP lawmakers wasted no time in attacking the proposed regulation, arguing that the country lacks the critical infrastructure to support more EVs on the road and that the rule would put a strain on grids. The members also asserted the regulation would be a giveaway to China, which dominates EV supply chains.
Democrats, on the other hand, contend the measure is not a technology-specific mandate but rather a performance-based regulation. During a House Rules Committee hearing on Monday to consider the bill, Rep. Scott Peters (D-CA) warned that passing the GOP bill would prevent the agency from finalizing any vehicle emissions standards in the future and could affect automobiles other than just EVs.
“H.R. 4468 would peril consumer choice and send a signal to the auto industry and the world that the U.S. wants no part of the EV industry — ceding our global clean energy leadership to our competitors, including China,” the California Democrat said during his opening remarks.
An amendment was adopted into the bill clarifying the scope of the measure, stating its provisions will only apply to regulations that were proposed or prescribed on or after Jan. 1, 2021.
Walberg’s bill would also prohibit the agency from using the Clean Air Act, a 1963 law intended to reduce and control air pollution nationwide, to issue regulations mandating specific technology or that would limit the availability of new motor vehicles based on the vehicles’ engine type. The measure would require the EPA to update such existing regulations within two years.
The measure is not expected to advance in the Democratic-controlled Senate, with Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) unlikely to take up the measure for a floor vote. And on Monday, the White House threatened to veto the measure in a statement of administrative policy, backing the EPA’s standards as “key to ensuring that the United States continues to lead on developing and manufacturing low-cost clean-vehicle technologies of the future.”
Key provisions within Democrats’ 2022 party-line climate bill and the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure bill had allocated billions of dollars toward the build-out of electric vehicles and supporting charging infrastructure. House Republicans, however, have been gung-ho on rolling back provisions within the climate bill — notably through government funding bills.
Even if Walberg’s bill gets stalled in the Senate, language included in the House interior and environment appropriations bill would bar funds from finalizing the rule. However, there’s no guarantee that the provision will make its way to a finalized version because the two chambers will have to iron out differences between their versions of the funding bill in conference. The House’s interior and environment appropriations bill passed the full chamber in early November, while the Senate has yet to pass its version through the full chamber.
Last month, Senate Democrats called for top appropriators to reject the GOP environmental riders adopted into the House funding bills, warning that the “poison pills” do not affect federal spending but instead make changes to laws that would not have advanced without being attached to must-pass legislation.
“The inclusion of unrelated provisions has undermined the Senate’s ability in previous years to pass funding measures,” the senators wrote. “We must stay vigilant and keep senseless, harmful, environmental policy riders out of FY24 appropriations bills.”
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Still, some House Republicans said the overturn of the EPA’s rule is a “hard line” for them, including Rep. Lisa McClain (R-MI), who led a letter last month with over 200 Republicans pressing for language barring the rule to be included into a final appropriations bill. In a press conference railing against the rule on Wednesday, McClain said House Republicans will plan to file a disapproval resolution overturning the rule once it’s finalized.
“This is something that we feel very passionately about for our people, for choice, for our autoworkers,” McClain told reporters. “We will take all the necessary and appropriate measures to make sure that we reverse this horrendous, horrific policy.”
