CA Democratic Lawmakers Make Last Ditch Attempt To Stop EPA Waiver Vote That Could End 2035 EV Mandate

Governor Gavin Newsom, U.S. Senator Adam Schiff (D-CA), U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-CA) and other prominent Democratic lawmakers made a last chance effort to try to sway the U.S. Senate vote on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) waiver for California’s 2035 new gas powered car sales ban mandate on Wednesday, as current projections show that there will likely be enough votes.

Instead of focusing on the environmental aspect of the bill, which is a losing effort because of the large Republican and some Democrat bloc of support there is for ending the waiver and mandate as seen by the lopsided 246-164 House vote earlier this month, they are going after the Congressional Review Act (CRA). The CRA allows Congress to change federal agency rules decisions, but not waiver decisions. It also allows the passage or reversal of rules with a simple majority vote without a filibuster. Since the EPA waiver was first passed in December 2024 as the Biden Administration attempted to “Trump-proof” the mandate, supporters of the mandate deemed it safe because of Congress not being able to change it with the CRA in place. The Biden Administration, backed up by a report from the General Accounting Office (GAO) and the Senate Parliamentarian, didn’t think that a House vote could overturn it.

However, they defied the GAO and passed it anyway, citing a different interpretation of the CRA. Eyes then turned to the Senate, the Parliamentarian ruling that the waiver is not a rule and thus is not subject to the CRA. However, this didn’t stop Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) from bringing forward a vote this week. Blindsighted, as they thought they had weeks to attempt to stop it, Democrats swiftly scrambled up a response on Tuesday and Wednesday, which mostly amounted to speeches and statements against the GOP’s actions surrounding the CRA on the hopes that Democrats and Republicans who are currently for the repeal will switch over for the vote.

Governor Newsom, whose 2035 mandate is seen as one of his signature legacy projects, denounced the vote on Wednesday, calling it “illegal” and saying that those who want to repeal it are siding with China instead of the U.S. He also name checked Republican presidents Nixon and Reagan, trying further to sway Republicans by saying that if they voted for the repeal, they’d be going against their policies.

“The United States Senate has a choice: cede American car-industry dominance to China and clog the lungs of our children, or follow decades of precedent and uphold the clean air policies that Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon fought so hard for. Will you side with China or America?,” said Newsom in a statement. “Earlier this month, the Republican-controlled House illegally used the CRA to attempt to repeal three of California’s Clean Air Act waivers, which authorize California’s clean cars and trucks program. This defies decades of precedent of these waivers not being subject to the CRA, and contradicts the non-partisan Government Accountability Office and Senate Parliamentarian, who both ruled that the CRA’s short-circuited process does not apply to the waivers.

“The state’s efforts to clean its air ramped up under then-Governor Ronald Reagan when he established the California Air Resources Board. California’s Clean Air Act waivers date back to the Nixon Administration – allowing the state to continue its longstanding work setting standards necessary for cleaning up some of the worst air pollution in the country.”

A CRA focus

Senator Schiff, addressing the Senate, did manage to briefly move the issue back to environmental issues surrounding the waiver and mandate, before following waiver supports and railing against the CRA.

“I urge my colleagues, and the American people, not be distracted by suggestions that nothing is going on here, nothing new is going on here, no precedent is being set here. Because it is,” explained Schiff. “This week’s vote is short-sighted because it’s going to have devastating impacts for our nation’s health, but it’s more than that. And it should send a chill down the spine of legislators in every state and communities across the country, regardless of their political affiliation because the Senate is now setting a new standard, and one that will haunt us in the future. And it will haunt those states whose Senators vote to go down this path. Make no mistake. Today, it is California and our ability to set our own air quality standards.

“But tomorrow, it can be your own state’s priorities made into a target by this vote to open the Pandora’s Box of the Congressional Review Act.”

Senator Padilla followed Schiff’s plan of mentioning air quality and the environment, but nonetheless made it about the CRA in the end.

“Let us be abundantly clear: if Republicans throw away the rulebook and overrule the Parliamentarian, that would be going nuclear — plain and simple. This move will harm public health and deteriorate air quality for millions of children and people across the country,” said Padilla in a joint statement with several other Senators.

“Republicans are overruling a thirty-year tradition of state policies that bolstered a new sector of the economy, helped domestic automakers fend off China’s manufacturing dominance, improved the quality of the air we breathe, reduced planet-warming carbon pollution, and protected the health of American families.  Instead of negotiating changes with the states involved, the fossil fuel industry deployed its political operatives in Congress to go nuclear for them.

“If the Trump Administration’s scheme to weaponize the CRA goes forward, the executive branch will control the Senate Floor. Senate Republicans are doing an about face on the filibuster — throwing it aside the first moment it’s convenient and the Senate Floor will not be the same.”

Despite this posturing, the Senate is expected to repeal the EPA waiver this week. Should it pass, it will need to clear President Donald Trump, a supporter of repealing the waiver, as well as any legal issues. From there, the 2035 EV mandate would then be in critical danger, with an affirmation of federal regulations poised to undo mandate. Effectively, this would mean that new gas powered cars will still be sold in California well past 2035.