Illustration: Sarah Grillo / Axios
The Senate will enter a fraught parliamentary fight after the House passed a measure that would overturn California's authority to write its own auto emissions rules.
Why it matters: The state's regulations, set up under a Clean Air Act waiver and followed by 13 other states, effectively ban the sale of new gas cars by 2035.
- To repeal them, Senate Republicans would have to sidestep the opinion of parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough — potentially setting a precedent for how they'll handle her rulings during votes on reconciliation.
In the name of preserving the filibuster, senators are often loath to skirt their own internal referee.
Driving the news: The House on Thursday morning passed a Congressional Review Act resolution that would overturn California's clean car waivers from EPA on a 246–164 vote, with 35 Democrats supporting it.
- Lawmakers on Wednesday also moved two separate resolutions to overturn the state's truck and nitrous oxide emissions rules.
- Senate Republicans are pushing to bring it to the floor in the next few weeks.
- But Democrats told us they would try to throw up procedural barriers and possibly force votes on whether to ignore an opinion from the chamber's parliamentarian.
Catch up quick: The dispute here is whether the waivers, issued at the end of the Biden administration, are "rules" for the purposes of the CRA.
- GAO, which serves as an informal arbiter of CRA issues, has said they are not. MacDonough agreed.
Zoom in: For that reason, Senate EPW Chair Shelley Moore Capito has acknowledged that the Senate may need multiple votes to get it done.
- If Republicans bring it up, Sen. Adam Schiff told Axios, "it would be adjudicated by the parliamentarian, and the parliamentarian's ruling is quite clear already, as was the analysis of the GAO."
- Capito said Thursday she wants to bring it up on the floor before June. "We're trying to figure out the best strategy there," she told Axios' Stef Kight.
Between the lines: Republicans are arguing this is really a dispute with GAO and not with MacDonough. Capito said she doesn't even view it as "overturning the parliamentarian."
- Sen. Kevin Cramer agreed: "I mean, her ruling is based on a GAO ruling, which doesn't matter to us. It shouldn't, anyway. We don't work for them."
- And Sen. John Cornyn said it would set only "a narrow precedent with regard to GAO's opinion."
The big picture: Either way, it's a big moment for the major automakers, who have lobbied Congress for this for months.
What's next: Expect lawsuits and a fight from the state of California if the Senate succeeds.
- The CRA specifically prohibits judicial review. But this issue could break new ground in the courts as well as in the Senate.
