U.S. Senate Votes To Repeal CA’s Ban on Gas Vehicles and 2035 EV Mandate

The U.S. Senate voted Thursday to repeal the Environmental Protection Agency’s waiver for California’s 2035 new gas powered car sales ban mandate, with President Donald Trump all but certain to sign it.

As expected, the Congressional Review Act (CRA) was invoked, allowing the vote to not be held up by a filibuster. Despite heavy opposition from Democrats and the Senate Parliamentarian ruling earlier that the waiver is not a rule and thus is not subject to the CRA, the Senate nonetheless narrowly passed the bill almost entirely down party lines 51-44. As it was under the CRA, the action needed only a simple majority to pass.

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 because of the CRA being believed to not effect the waiver. The Biden Administration, backed up by reports from the General Accounting Office (GAO) and the Senate Parliamentarian, didn’t think that a House or Senate vote could overturn it. However, this was proven wrong earlier this month following the House voting 246-164 to end the waiver. This led to weeks of debate and ultimate passage in the Senate on Thursday.

Republican lawmakers, joined by a minority of Democratic lawmakers, praised the outcome on Thursday.

“They were losers going out the door and they said ‘we’re coming after you — the American people — with our leftist dreams,” expressed Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-WY). “This is a whole new meaning in California of fantasy land…America can’t meet these impossible standards, not next year, not in 10 years, and the American people don’t want to meet those standards.”

“I think a lot of Democrats support an electric vehicle mandate,” added Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD). “In fact I think they’re somewhat frantic at the prospect of losing this ‘Green New Deal’ policy.”

The response was even more amplified by opponents of the 2035 EV mandate in California. Ever since Governor Newsom first signed the executive order in September 2020 to make all passenger cars zero emission by 2035, GOP lawmakers in the state have done what they could in an attempt to block the law. While efforts in Sacramento failed because of the Democratic supermajority, the inauguration of President Trump in January spurred federal action, with the Trump administration doing in four months what opponents in California couldn’t do in nearly 5 years.

“Let’s face it. We need to ‘Make California Affordable again’ by giving consumers options and not boxing them into a single choice and forcing them to purchase expensive electric vehicles they can’t afford,” said Senator Tony Strickland (R-Huntington Beach) in a statement on Thursday. “An article from Axios stated that Americans are defaulting on their car payments at a ‘record level,’ and Kelley Blue Book prices a new EV at nearly $60,000, with a used one at $40,000. It’s neither fair nor right to lure consumers into buying an EV only for them to default on their car payments. The ripple effect would be devastating for consumers and businesses. 

 “Furthermore, as Vice Chair of the Senate Transportation Committee and a member of the Senate Energy Committee, I am concerned that California is not truly prepared to have 15 million electric vehicles on the road by 2035. We face major obstacles. If everyone plugs in and charges their EVs, we will experience rolling blackouts because of inadequate energy capacity.”

“This is a major victory for hard working Californians,” added Senator Brian Jones (R-San Diego). “Newsom’s car ban is virtue signaling for extreme environmentalists who want to dismantle our economy, no matter how much it hurts families already struggling to make ends meet. You like your gas or hybrid car? Too bad. Can’t afford an EV? That’s your problem. This is the kind of arrogance we’ve come to expect from Newsom’s agenda written by activists and paid for by everyday Californians.

“Now, Newsom and Bonta are using our tax dollars to try and take away Californians’ freedom of choice. This lawsuit isn’t about protecting the environment. It’s about protecting Newsom’s political brand. His defense of this car ban is just him laying the groundwork for a future presidential campaign. Newsom wants to take this failed policy nationwide, even though Californians don’t want it, and neither do Americans.”

Newsom vows a legal fight over the end of the Mandate

However, Democratic supporters of the mandate reacted negatively on Thursday. Governor Newsom, whose 2035 mandate was supposed to be a signature legacy law, was foremost among them, blasting the Senate vote and vowing to sue Congress over it alongside Attorney General Rob Bonta.

“Republicans went around their own parliamentarian to defy decades of precedent,” said Newsom at a press conference. “We won’t stand by as Trump Republicans make America smoggy again — undoing work that goes back to the days of Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan — all while ceding our economic future to China. We’re going to fight this unconstitutional attack on California in court.”

“With these votes, Senate Republicans are bending the knee to President Trump once again,” added Bonta. “As we have said before, this reckless misuse of the Congressional Review Act is unlawful, and California will not stand idly by. We need to hold the line on strong emissions standards and keep the waivers in place, and we will sue to defend California’s waivers.

“For more than 50 years, California has exercised its right under the federal Clean Air Act to pursue solutions that address the persistent air pollution challenges that our state faces. Reducing emissions is essential to the prosperity, health, and wellbeing of California and its families.”

In Washington, Senators were still more focused on the use of the CRA rather than the mandate itself.

“Today it’s all about California emission waivers. But tomorrow, the CRA could now be used to erase any policy from an agency that the Trump administration doesn’t like at a simple majority threshold,” noted Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). “Republicans should tread carefully today. What goes around comes around.”

If the vote failed, the 2035 mandate would have stayed in place in California and a handful of other states that followed California’s lead, along with the 2026 35% electric car sales mark as outlined under the mandate. Stagnation and regression of electric car sales in the past few years, along with severe economic concerns of a forced electric vehicle mandate, made reaching the goal next year all but impossible as 2024 EV rates were around 21.4% of all cars sold in the state – with the figure remaining unchanged from 2023. Instead, new gas-powered cars will remain for sale past 2035 in California and other affected states.

As of Thursday, the waiver repeal has been sent to President Trump to sign off on, which would pave the way for blanket federal regulations and the end of the 2035 California mandate. Governor Newsom and AG Bonta are also currently working on a legal challenge, which could possibly delay the repeal.