Politics

It’s refreshing in a way that we no longer have to spend much time thinking about the Senate parliamentarian, the shadowy figure whose rulings supposedly decide what the chamber can and cannot do. Republicans put that to bed last week by overruling the parliamentarian over whether a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution could nullify the Environmental Protection Agency’s waiver allowing California to set its own air pollution standards on vehicles.

California was given authority in a carve-out to the Clean Air Act in 1970 to set higher emissions standards than the national rules, with the EPA subsequently granting waivers more than 100 times. The state was prepared to use its latest waiver to effectively ban gas-powered auto sales by 2035. But the Senate voted 51-to-44 last week to cancel that waiver, as well as two other waivers to tighten emission rules on diesel trucks and allow zero-emission trucks on the road. The House had already voted for the resolution, so it can now be signed by President Trump.

Reference to the event:

Senate Republicans pushed forward with a simple-majority vote late Wednesday to undo an electric vehicle mandate set by California, which Democrats and the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office said should be subject to the 60-vote filibuster rule.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/senate-republicans-trigger-clash-filibuster-eyeing-vote-nix-electric-v-rcna208061