Can Senate Republicans Stop California's National EV Mandate Before It's Too Late?

Only the U.S. Senate, can prevent unelected bureaucrats in Washington D.C. and climate activists in California from setting a nationwide electric vehicle (EV) mandate that will raise consumer costs and limit consumer choice. 

A critical vote could come within the next few weeks if Republicans in the upper chamber decide to make smart use of the Congressional Review Act (CRA), which enables elected members to review and potentially overturn federal agency rules. On May 1st, the House passed a resolution of disapproval under the CRA that could uproot a special waiver California received from the Biden administration putting the state in a position to ban gas-powered cars across the country. 

Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune (SD), is reportedly mulling over a decision to bring the House resolution to the Senate floor for a vote. If Thune decides to press ahead, he will need to act in defiance of the General Accountability Office (GAO) and the Senate parliamentarian. 

Tom Pyle, president of the Institute for Energy Research (IER), would like to see Thune do exactly that since the GAO and the parliamentarian have issued statements in opposition to using the CRA. Pyle told Restoration News in an interview that he has confidence Thune, and his Senate colleagues, will finish the job the House started. 

Pyle sees an effort at work on the part of "unelected bureaucrats" and Senate Democrats to use the waiver for the purpose of imposing a nationwide EV mandate that would also result in a ban on gas-powered cars. The statements from GAO and the parliamentarian should not be an obstacle to regulatory reform, Pyle argues, since they ignore the "clear language" of the CRA. 

Even so, time is a factor for Thune since the CRA sets legislative deadlines for Congress to issue resolutions of disapproval the president can sign. 

"The clock is ticking, and the Senate will need to bring the House resolution to the floor probably later this month," Pyle said. "I fully expect majority leader Thune and the senate leadership to get this bill to President Trump and end California’s heavy-handed, rough shod, go it alone approach."

Abusing the Clean Air Act

Under the Clean Air Act (CAA), the EPA has the authority to create emissions standards for new motor vehicles. The agency also has latitude to grant California a special waiver to impose even more stringent standards for the purpose of addressing pollution problems that are localized and unique to that state. 

But the waiver—granted in December 2024 by President Biden’s EPA to California for its Advanced Clean Cars II rule, mere weeks before he left office—goes many steps beyond what Congress authorized the EPA to do, according to Pyle and other energy policy analysts. 

The Advanced Clean Cars II rule is one of three California EV mandates the Biden administration withheld from congressional review. The Advanced Clean Trucks rule, calling for increased electrification of all medium and heavy-duty vehicles dates back to 2023 while the waiver for Omnibus NO_x rules for medium and heavy-duty vehicles, which are designed to phase out diesel engine trucks, was paired with the waiver for clean cars rule in December 2024. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin submitted all three waivers for congressional review this past February. 

"What we have here is an abuse of the Clean Air Act," Pyle said. "The waiver process was not created to allow California to ban gas-powered vehicles across the country. That was never the intention. The waiver process was implemented so California could address its own special challenges with smog that affect parts of that state."

As a counterbalance to the California mischief, IER organized the Save Our Cars Coalition back in 2023, which now includes more than 40 national and state-based organizations committed to safeguarding American consumers’ freedom to choose the car or truck that perfectly suits their needs. The waiver enabling California to set stricter emissions standards for cars is of special interest to coalition members. 

That’s because the rule would prohibit the sale of new gas-powered vehicles in that state by 2035 as part of a government-led effort to force the public into purchasing EVs. Since other states can adopt California’s stricter emissions standards, the waiver could result in a nationwide ban on gas powered vehicles. 

As it stands, 11 states already follow California’s lead with vehicle regulations. Unless the waiver is overturned, Gov. Gavin Newsom, a two term Democrat and prominent climate activist, will be in a position where he can tell all Americans what cars they can and cannot buy. 

Unelected Bureaucrats Resist Congressional Review Act

Pyle describes the CRA as a "great piece of legislation" that can be used to "rein in a runaway bureaucracy and restore constitutional checks and balances." He’s greatly encouraged by the House vote to overturn the EV mandate for cars since it occurred on a bipartisan basis with 35 Democrats joining with Republicans. "I applaud the House for doing what is right and for being responsive to voters who want to end EV mandates," Pyle said.

But there are hurdles.

In response to a request from three Senate Democrats, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a memo claiming the waiver does not meet definition of what qualifies as a rule under the Administrative Procedures Act. Instead, the GAO argues that the waiver is "an adjudicatory order" that cannot be subjected to the CRA. Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough chimed in with her own commentary backing up GAO’s opinion that the waiver cannot be overturned by the CRA. But Pyle remains dismissive of bureaucratic attempts to prevent Congress from reasserting its lawmaking authority and slices through the legalese. 

"Neither the GAO nor the Senate parliamentarian are the final authority on what is considered a rule under the Congressional Review Act since the law is plain and simple," Pyle said. "If an agency sends a rule to Congress for review, elected members have the right to review it.  The arguments that the GAO and the parliamentarian are making are hair splitting, their technical, and quite frankly, it shows their bias."

Daren Bakst, director of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI)’s Center for Energy and Environment, argues that since Congress never authorized the EPA to ban gas-powered cars on its own, the agency cannot in turn give California any authority the EPA itself does not possess. 

Bakst goes into great detail about "improper GAO meddling" in an analysis for CEI that also offers up a robust defense for using the CRA to take down the California waiver. The GAO memo, Bakst explains, makes a huge mistake in omitting any discussion of the fact that other states have already adopted California’s standards. 

"The EPA waiver, while granted to California, was known to be the green light for all the other states that had adopted the California standard," Bakst wrote. "Tell the people in those states that the waiver is just for California," he added. 

The other problem that both energy policy analysts point to is the fact that the California rule places a strong emphasis on greenhouse gas emissions that are not particular to California. 

"That’s another reason the waiver never should have been granted," Pyle said. "CO2 emissions are a global issue. There’s nothing unique about the geography or the topography of California with respect to CO2 emissions."

If for some reason Thune declines to move forward with the CRA, Pyle envisions a scenario where most, and perhaps all, Americans will not be able to purchase a new gas-powered car by 2035. 

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