[Source/Observer Network by Ruan Jiaqi]
The game between the California government and Republicans has escalated again. According to reports from The New York Times, Bloomberg, etc. on the 22nd, local time Thursday, the Senate controlled by Republicans blocked California's plan to ban the sale of new fuel vehicles in the state starting from 2035 with a vote result of 51 to 44. This resolution will then be submitted to US President Trump for signing.
The report stated that Trump opposes clean energy and is particularly resentful of California's efforts to reduce the use of fossil fuels, and it is expected that he will sign the resolution to make it effective. This would completely destroy California's "milestone plan" to gradually phase out the sale of new fuel vehicles.
At a press conference in Sacramento on the 22nd, Democrat and California Governor Newsom stood behind a sign reading "Trump's Republicans are plunging America back into smog" and angrily condemned the Senate's vote as "illegal".
Newsom said that without California's clean air policies, Tesla and other American electric vehicle pioneers "would not exist at all." Bloomberg reported that California's policy requiring automakers to gradually sell more zero-emission vehicles has long been providing benefits to Tesla, which remains the highest market share electric vehicle manufacturer in California to date.
Newsom also directed his criticism at China, claiming that the repeal of relevant policies by Republicans would be "beneficial" for China, allowing it to take the lead in the competition of pioneer technologies for clean vehicles. He repeatedly stated that Republicans have "handed over the keys to China" and "given up California's economic future to China."
According to The Guardian, the day before the vote, Newsom had hyped up, saying, "The U.S. Senate faces a choice: either hand over the dominance of the American automotive industry to China, leaving future generations to suffer from air pollution; or follow the precedent of Reagan and Nixon's clean air policies."
He also questioned the Republican senators, "Are you on China's side or America's?" However, from the voting results, it is evident that this tactic of "hardly dragging China" did not work.
On May 22nd, local time, Newsom held a press conference in Sacramento. California government website
According to the Associated Press, California Governor Newsom first proposed in 2020 that by 2035, all new vehicle sales in the state must be zero-emission vehicles, while plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and used fuel vehicles can still be sold.
Last December, during the Biden administration, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) granted California an exemption for this policy, exempting it from the impact of federal government regulations. This means that the series of changes and revocations of administrative orders made by the Trump administration after taking office will not affect California's decision-making.
The New York Times introduced that according to the Clean Air Act of 1970, California can receive an exemption from the EPA to issue stricter clean air standards than federal restrictions, as it has historically been one of the most polluted areas in the United States.
Federal law also allows other states to adopt California standards under specific circumstances. According to data from the California Air Resources Board, more than a dozen states have followed California's emission standards.
US media emphasized that the EPA has so far approved over 100 exemptions for California to support its clean air and climate work. "For fifty years, the power of California to enact environmental regulations stricter than national standards has never been challenged by Congress, until today."
It was reported that in order to overturn this "ban on internal combustion engines," Republicans resorted to an unconventional legislative tool called the Congressional Review Act (CRA), passing a joint veto resolution targeting California's exemption with a simple majority vote. The Associated Press called this "a precedent-setting move" in the Senate.
According to public introductions, the US Congressional Review Act (CRA) came into effect in 1996 signed by President Clinton. Its core mechanism allows Congress to pass a joint veto resolution to revoke administrative rules issued by federal agencies.
This rule allows bypassing the lengthy debate procedures of regular congressional legislative processes. Within the 60-day review period after the issuance of new regulations, it can directly overturn new federal regulations with a simple majority vote.
The resolution requires presidential approval to take effect. If the president vetoes, it requires a two-thirds majority in both houses of Congress to override. More crucially, once the resolution takes effect, related agencies may not issue substantially identical regulations in the future unless they obtain new legislative authorization from Congress.
Before 2017, CRA was successfully invoked only once, but since the Trump and Biden administrations, CRA has gradually become a tool for partisan games, becoming a "powerful weapon" for incoming presidents to overturn policies of their predecessors.
According to Bloomberg reports, Republicans argued that California was actually implementing a "national" automotive policy, creating issues at the federal level. Many states would follow suit, and automobile companies would also have to comply with the state's requirements.
Republican Senator Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia claimed, "Over the past twenty years, California has used its exemption authority to impose extreme climate policies on the rest of the country, which is far from the original intention of the Clean Air Act."
Democrats accused Republicans of illegally invoking CRA and criticized this "precedent-setting" move, which would affect how the Senate operates. Its impact extends far beyond the field of climate policy.
Democratic leader and Senator Chuck Schumer of New York described Republicans' actions as choosing a "nuclear option" and "hijacking" the relevant rules. He hinted that Democrats would retaliate.
"Republicans have taken an irreversible path in the Senate today, expanding the scope of what can be done under a majority seat," Schumer said meaningfully. "Republicans should proceed cautiously today, for good or bad deeds will eventually come full circle."
At the press conference on Thursday, California Attorney General Rob Bonta released a statement indicating that the state plans to sue the Trump administration to restore the "ban on internal combustion engines."
The statement said that the Senate illegally used CRA to revoke California's exemption. This violates the precedent that such exemptions are not subject to CRA constraints for decades and contradicts the rulings of the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office and Senate parliamentarians, who both ruled that the shortcut procedure of CRA does not apply to such exemptions.
"The president has no authority to push his anti-California agenda through CRA," Bonta said. "We won't let this happen, as California is facing increasingly severe air pollution and a climate crisis."
The New York Times pointed out that if California initiates a legal challenge against the Senate's voting results, a legal battle that could reshape the US electric vehicle market will begin, with impacts potentially extending beyond state boundaries.
The report stated that California accounts for about 11% of the US automotive market and has a significant influence on national purchasing trends. Dozens of states, including New York, Massachusetts, and Oregon, are preparing to adopt California's electrification standards. These states account for approximately 40% of US automotive market sales.
The Guardian also mentioned that given the size of California's market, equivalent to the fourth largest economy globally, automobile manufacturers basically comply with California's emission standards to continue selling cars in the state.
However, auto manufacturers in the US actually oppose California's policy. The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which represents major automobile manufacturers such as General Motors, Toyota, Volkswagen, and Hyundai, welcomed the Senate's voting results.
According to US media reports, the Senate votes overturned California's plans to increase the number of zero-emission electric commercial trucks and to impose nitrogen oxide emission limits on heavy-duty road vehicles and off-road vehicle engines on the same day. These two veto resolutions have also been submitted to the White House.
"This is really bad," said Ann Carlson, a professor at the University of California. She had helped the Biden administration formulate emission reduction policies. "Soon, all incentives for the transition to zero-emission vehicles will be erased."
Dean Flores, a member of the California Air Resources Board, expressed greater concern, stating that a provision in CRA prohibiting the issuance of rules "substantially similar" to those overturned could severely constrain California's policy options for reducing smog pollution.
"I can't see any way around this toxic situation," he lamented.
This article is an exclusive contribution by Observer Network and cannot be reprinted without permission.
Original Source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7507614783336710706/
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