Thune Faces Tough Call on Overturning Electric Vehicle Mandate

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., is facing a tough decision in the Senate, one that might determine whether or not California is saddled with an electric vehicle mandate in the near future.

At the end of his term, former President Joe Biden granted California an Environmental Protection Agency waiver, allowing it to implement regulations that would effectively mandate that 80% of cars be emissions-free by 2035.

The waiver allowed California to make its own rules on auto emissions standards, rather than follow national standards.

California, as a disproportionally large portion of the U.S. economy, often has the power to shape national business practices. For example, automakers tend to follow the California Air Resources Board’s regulations, as opposed to the more lenient national emission regulations.

This month, an alliance of major automakers penned a statement that, if the regulations remain in place, they would be "forced to substantially reduce the number of overall vehicles for sale to inflate their proportion of electric vehicles sales."

The new Congress moved quickly to counteract that, introducing Congressional Review Acts in the House and Senate to strike down Biden’s waiver. A CRA allows Congress to undo a federal regulation by a simple majority vote.

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The office of House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said Wednesday that the House would bring the three CRAs striking down the waiver to the House floor this week.

The only problem?

 The Government Accountability Office and the Senate parliamentarian—both of whom are charged with determining the rules of engagement for Congress—have determined that the Senate can’t strike down the waiver with a CRA.

Now, Thune must decide whether or not he brings the CRAs to the floor in defiance of the watchdogs.

Neither the GOA nor the parliamentarian have veto power over the Senate, but defying them would create some political drama.

 Thune, who fancies himself as a guardian of Senate traditions and procedures, has warned against challenging the parliamentarian in the past, likening it to a nuclear option.

But the stakes are high, and time is running out. Under the Congressional Review Act, there is a limited time period to undo regulations from the previous Congress. In this case, that deadline is mid-May. 

Thune’s decision to obey or challenge the Government Accountability Office and Senate parliamentarian in this situation will set the tone for the budget reconciliation process, in which Republican senators are likely to debate both watchdogs over how they score fiscal policy.