The Biden administration's attempt to set new emissions standards for electric vehicles was blocked by a bipartisan group of lawmakers on Friday.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced in March a final rule under the Clean Air Act to set new emissions standards that would require up to two-thirds of new cars sold to be electric vehicles by 2032.
The new rules would affect “light-duty vehicle manufacturers, independent commercial importers, alternative fuel converters, and medium-duty vehicle manufacturers and converters,” according to the EPA's final rule.
The House of Representatives on Friday passed the Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution, introduced by Rep. John James, R-Mich., to block the enactment of the “outdated regulation.”
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A Tesla Model 3 charges at a ChargePoint electric vehicle charging station in Rhinebeck, N.Y., on Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024. (Angus Mordant/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The amendment passed with bipartisan support, with eight Democrats voting in favor of the bill.
Democrats who opposed the bill argued that the EPA rule was “very important” to reducing emissions, but James, speaking on the House floor before the vote, called the Biden administration’s new rules “catastrophic.”
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“The Biden-Harris Administration's EPA tailpipe emissions rule is another outdated regulation that will destroy Michigan's auto industry and decimate our middle class and most vulnerable,” James said in a news release after the bill was passed.. ““This is a de facto mandate for electric vehicles that will put the 77,580 manufacturing jobs in MI-10 at serious risk of extinction. I am grateful that the House of Representatives passed this measure to prevent the Biden-Harris administration's rule from destroying the livelihoods of thousands of people in Michigan and across the country.”
Rep. John James (R-Mich.) speaks alongside former race car driver Mario Andretti and Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.) during a press conference on May 1, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Anna Moneymaker)
“Vice President Harris made it clear from the beginning that one of her top priorities is mandating electric vehicles and getting rid of combustion engines, and as she said, her values have not changed. The Biden-Harris EPA continues to impose extreme pollutant and greenhouse gas standards for vehicles in an attempt to get Americans to switch to electric vehicles, taking away consumer choice, forcing American families and workers into unaffordable options, and destroying jobs,” Majority Leader Steve Scalise said in a press release after the vote.
President Biden addresses the Baltimore Bridge collapse in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, DC, March 26, 2024. (Pedro Ugarte)
The bill's passage comes just a day after the American Energy Alliance and more than two dozen energy groups sent a letter to members of Congress urging them to pass the CRA.
“This tailpipe emissions standards rule is a massive overreach, using a novel application of EPA motor vehicle authorities in an attempt to force a transition in the motor vehicle market toward products that align with the Biden administration's ideological preferences,” the groups wrote in a letter to lawmakers Thursday.
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The bipartisan legislation is being mirrored in the Senate by Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., who introduced the House version of the CRA in May.
