Exclusive: Dems warn Thune on California waiver "nuclear option"
Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and other top Democrats are warning that side-stepping the parliamentarian on California's Clean Air Act waivers would be a precedent-busting "nuclear option."
Why it matters: It's a sign that a wonky debate about auto emissions rules is blowing up into a major dustup about Senate rules and the future of the Congressional Review Act.
Driving the news: The Democrats, in a letter sent late last week and obtained by Axios, said the GOP is considering "a dramatic break from Senate precedent with profound institutional consequences."
- The letter to Majority Leader John Thune and Majority Whip John Barrasso doesn't specify what steps Democrats might take if Republicans proceed.
- The letter was signed by Schumer, Environment and Public Works Ranking Member Sheldon Whitehouse, California Sen. Alex Padilla, and top Democrats on various Senate committees.
Zoom in: At issue is a set of waivers granted to California under federal law allowing the state to set its own regulations on emissions from cars and trucks.
- The Trump administration and Hill Republicans argue that the waivers are federal rules subject to speedy congressional repeal via a simple majority vote under the CRA.
- The Government Accountability Office, which serves as an informal arbiter of CRA issues, has said they are not. Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough has agreed.
Friction point: Republicans are pushing to proceed with a vote anyway, which could entail overruling her.
- "While that might be more expedient than agency rulemaking or considering legislation under the Senate's normal rules, such an action would be a procedural nuclear option," the Democrats wrote.
- Going down this road, they argued, would allow the CRA to be "weaponized to retroactively invalidate decades of agency actions."
- "Most importantly, however, once that precedent is set, a future Senate Majority could subsequently apply it to legislation beyond the CRA," they wrote.
The other side: Republicans say this is a minor procedural issue — not a dramatic step.
- Several of them have told Axios they don't consider it a move to override the parliamentarian, but rather the GAO.
- "It would be a narrow precedent with regard to GAO's opinion," Sen. John Cornyn said last week.
California's auto emissions standards effectively ban the sale of new gas cars by 2035. Other blue states follow its lead.
- The House already moved to overturn its waivers in a series of bipartisan votes last week.
