Via Zero Hedge by Tyler Durden
Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk.com,
California’s grip on US EV policy is nearly over!
Trump Smartly Employs the Congressional Review Act
The Congressional Review Act allows Congress to nullify rules taken in the final 60 days of a prior administration.
Trump is using the CRA to kill California’s ability to set EV standards for the Nation.
Many Democrats are howling, but 35 House Democrats support Trump.
What Is the CRA?
The Congressional Review Act (CRA) is a tool that Congress may use to pass legislation overturning a rule issued by a federal agency. When Congress passes a law, it often grants rulemaking authority to federal agencies to implement provisions of the law. That delegation of rulemaking authority, and the rules issued by federal agencies under this authority, is a crucial component of the policymaking process.
The CRA was enacted in 1996 as part of the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act. Under the CRA, before a rule can take effect, an agency must submit the rule to Congress and the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
Upon receipt of the rule by Congress, Members of Congress have a specified time period during which to submit and take action on a joint resolution of disapproval overturning the rule. If both houses pass the joint resolution, it is sent to the President for signature or veto. If the President were to veto the joint resolution, Congress could vote to override the veto. Enactment of the joint resolution would take the rule out of effect or prevent it from going into effect, and the agency would be prohibited from issuing a rule that is “substantially the same” without further authorization from Congress.
The best part of the CRA is that it only requires a simple majority in Congress and is thus filibuster-proof in the Senate.
The Politics of EVs Have Changed
I am pleased to report The Politics of EVs Have Changed
On Thursday the House voted in strong bipartisan fashion to overturn the EV mandate the Biden Administration let California impose on the rest of America.
The vote was 246-164 for a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution to repeal the waiver that the Environmental Protection Agency granted California for its EV mandate. The waiver provision was written to let California address smog. But Sacramento Democrats lobbied the Biden EPA to let it apply to carbon emissions.
The mandate is ludicrously impossible to meet. It says zero-emissions vehicles would have to account for 43% of an auto maker’s sales by 2027 in California and the dozen other states that have signed up for its rules. It rises to 68% by 2030.
The House vote is especially striking because of the 35 Democratic ayes. That included three of six Democrats from Michigan, three of five from Ohio, four of 12 from Texas, and even two from the High Climate Church of California (Luis Correa and George Whitesides). Let’s hope they’re not excommunicated by Pope Gavin (Newsom) I.
Democrats Howl Republicans Flouting the Rules
The American Prospect comments How Republicans Are Flouting the Rules of the Congressional Review Act
The CRA was passed in 1996 to empower congressional oversight of federal rulemaking, and is currently being used by Republicans to overturn Biden-era rules on the environment, banking, and more. Once a federal regulation is overturned by a CRA resolution of disapproval and receives the president’s signature, it is gone for good: The rule becomes null and void, and the government is prohibited from publishing any “substantially similar” rule in the future. What’s more, the CRA bars judicial review, giving Congress the final word in a rule’s overturning.
On February 14, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator Lee Zeldin asked Congress to review waivers issued by Biden’s EPA, suggesting to congressional Republicans that they should be the subject of a CRA resolution of disapproval. The waivers allow California to set its own pollution standards for certain vehicles under the Clean Air Act (CAA) without being preempted by the EPA’s national standards.
“Republicans may regret setting this precedent for expanding the CRA,” he added.
At the end of the day, despite that leverage that Democrats could take advantage of—if they have enough courage to do so—moving forward with this resolution of disapproval would be a dangerous overreach. If Republicans choose not to abide by the CRA’s definition of a rule, there’s nothing stopping them from also sidestepping the law’s 60-day time limit or its one-rule-at-a-time provision.
That would give Congress even more power than the CRA already allows, putting all types of federal rulemaking at risk.
Economic and EV Madness
It is preposterous that California can set EPA and EV standards for the nation. But here we are.
This started with the 1967 Clean Air Act when Congress made an exception for California due to its history of air pollution problems.
Since then, the EPA made rules that took on a life of their own. It has since morphed into zero-emissions standards such that vehicles would have to account for 43% of an auto maker’s sales by 2027 in California.
Ten states latched on to this madness.
Republicans in Congress Use Obscure Law to Roll Back Biden-Era Regulations
Instead of praising the end of economic madness, the New York Times moans Republicans in Congress Use Obscure Law to Roll Back Biden-Era Regulations
In recent weeks, the G.O.P. has pushed through a flurry of legislation to cancel regulations on matters large and small, from oversight of firms that emit toxic pollutants to energy efficiency requirements for walk-in freezers and water heaters.
To do so, they are employing a little-known 1996 law, the Congressional Review Act, that allows lawmakers to reverse recently adopted federal regulations with a simple majority vote in both chambers. It is a strategy they used in 2017 during Mr. Trump’s first term and are leaning on again as they work to find ways to steer around Democratic opposition and make the most of their governing trifecta of the House, the Senate and the White House.
But this time, Republicans are testing the limits of the law in a way that could vastly expand its use and undermine the filibuster, the Senate rule that effectively requires 60 votes to move forward with any major legislation.
Because resolutions of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act need only a majority vote, they are some of the only legislation that can avoid a filibuster in the Senate. This allows them to circumvent the partisan gridlock that stands in the way of most significant bills. [Sounds Great to Me]
Now Republicans are trying to go much further with the law, including using it to effectively attack state regulations blessed by the federal government. The House this week passed three disapproval resolutions that would eliminate California’s strict air pollution standards for trucks and cars by rejecting waivers from the Environmental Protection Agency that allowed them to take effect.
The move would also permanently prevent federal regulators from writing a similar rule in the future. Both the Government Accountability Office and the Senate parliamentarian, who is in charge of enforcing the chamber’s rules, have said that the E.P.A. waivers do not constitute federal regulations and thus are not subject to the Congressional Review Act.
The pressure now falls on Senator John Thune, Republican of South Dakota and the majority leader, to decide whether he will proceed with the measures anyway, sidestepping the parliamentarian in a move that would undermine the filibuster.
Democrats argue that Republicans’ efforts to kill the E.P.A. waivers amount to illegal overreach on states’ rights. They say the drive could inadvertently subject a plethora of executive actions, such as leasing rights for oil and gas fields as well as waivers for state Medicaid programs, to congressional review.
Either way, experts warned that Republicans may come to regret reading the statute so broadly. Michael Thorning, the director of the Structural Democracy Project at the Bipartisan Policy Center, a nonprofit think tank, said doing so could hand Democrats a powerful tool to undo regulations that they dislike when they one day return to power.
When President Joseph R. Biden Jr. entered office in 2021, congressional Democrats took a cue from Republicans and reinstated Obama-era caps on methane emissions that the Trump administration spent years working to overturn through executive action.
Hoot of the Month
Democrats spend 4 years moaning about the need to kill the filibuster in order to pack the courts with Democrats, change the number of Supreme Court Justices, and pass God only knows what environmental madness.
These hypocrites now oppose using the CRA for what it was intended for, ending inane regulations.
Allowing California to set preposterous environmental stands for the nation, enforced by EPA rules was among the worst.
And just like that, Democrats suddenly want the filibuster to prevent changing inane rules and regulations.
Hypocrites on Both Sides
On March 14, 2025, I commented Hoot of the Day: House Republicans Suddenly Like Clean Energy Tax Breaks
21 House Republicans now like Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act incentives.
Pack of Republican Now Support
- No Medicaid rollbacks
- More food assistance
- Expansion of Inflation Reduction Act provisions to capture methane
- Reinstatement of State and Local Tax deduction (primary benefit big blue states)
All the Republicans want more military spending, and Trump Promises $1 trillion in Defense Spending for Next Year
And people think Trump will cut the budget.
Read in its entirety at zerohedge.com.
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