'Radical Republicans' went 'nuclear' by 'twisting' rules to attack blue states: analysis

The US Senate undermined California’s ability to set its own standards governing air pollution from automobiles on Thursday, according to a Vox report.

According to the outlet, the Senate voted along party lines, 51-44, “to revoke a waiver the Environmental Protection Agency approved allowing the Golden State to implement and enforce a de facto ban on the sale of gasoline-powered cars by 2035.”

They also rescinded waivers that allowed California to set stricter emissions standards for new diesel trucks.

The way the waivers were revoked is on a “wonkier” level, Vox said. "They used the 1996 Congressional Review Act (CRA), a law enacted to allow Congress to overturn some federal actions with a simple majority rather than the usual 60 votes.”

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“Republicans twisted the Senate’s own rules,” Joanna Slaney, vice president for political and government affairs at the Environmental Defense Fund, said in a statement.

UCLA law professor Ann Carlson warned in a blog post ahead of the vote that Congress “may be opening up a Pandora’s box it can’t close.”

Carlson added that “there will be no limit on using the CRA to overturn all kinds of actions that the act doesn’t cover.”

“Republicans should tread carefully today,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), told NPR.

Senator Alex Padilla (D-CA) said in a statement that “radical Republicans” had “gone nuclear on the Senate rule book.”

Padilla later added, “It won’t be long before Democrats are back in the driver’s seat again. When that happens, all bets will be off. Every agency action that Democrats don’t like — whether it’s a rule or not — will be fair game, from mining permits and fossil fuel projects to foreign affairs and tax policies.”

California’s current standards require 35 percent of new cars sold within the state to be zero-emission by 2026. They are looking to increase that amount to 100 percent of new sales by 2035.

The state's Attorney General Rob Bonta objected to the Senate vote and said, “Reducing emissions is essential to the prosperity, health, and well-being of California and its families." Gov. Gavin Newsom said undoing his state’s air pollution rules risked "ced[ing] American car-industry dominance to China."