Daniel R. Blume, via Wikimedia Commons
The US House of Representatives has voted 246 to 164 to end the Environmental Protection Agency waiver that federally approved California’s 2035 gas powered car ban. The vote paved the way for a total federal ban on a mandate and allows new gas-powered cars to be sold in California after 2035. Since the EPA waiver was first passed in December 2024 as a Biden administration attempt to Trump proof the mandate.
Supporters of the mandate deemed it safe because of Congress not being able to change it. With the Congressional Review Act in place. As the CRA allows Congress to change federal agency rules decisions and not waiver decisions, the Biden administration backed up by a report from the General Accounting Office, didn’t think that a House vote could overturn it. This was shown to be wrong when the House Republicans, joined by dozens of Democrats, approved the open interpretation of the CRA and repealed the waiver. Many democratic California lawmakers slammed the decision, calling the vote illegal and stating that the CRA does not cover waivers.