The Trump administration and Republicans in Congress are preparing an unusual legislative maneuver in an effort to eliminate one of the country’s most ambitious climate policies, an order that was designed to shift the auto industry toward electric cars.
They plan to vote to overturn a California ban on the sale of new gasoline-powered cars in that state by 2035. To do it, they intend to use the Congressional Review Act, a 1996 law that permits lawmakers to reverse recently-adopted regulations with a simple majority vote.
But the California ban is not a federal regulation, it’s a different animal. It’s the result of a waiver that was granted by the Biden administration under the 1970 Clean Air Act, something that has been done more than a hundred times over the years by administrations of both parties. And it is not subject to congressional review, according to a 2023 decision by the Government Accountability Office.
Environmental groups and California officials say the Republican plan to try to kill the waiver with a congressional vote would be illegal.
Gov. Gavin Newsom of California, a Democrat who frequently sparred with Mr. Trump during the president’s first term and who has promoted his state as an environmental leader, declined to comment. His office referred questions to the state’s air pollution regulator, the California Air Resources Board.
David Clegern, a spokesman for the board, said in a statement, “The Trump E.P.A. is doing what no E.P.A. under Democratic or Republican administrations in 50 years has ever done, and what the G.A.O. has confirmed does not comply with the law.”
The Clean Air Act specifies that California can be allowed to enact tougher clean air standards than those set by the federal government because, historically, it has had the most polluted air in the nation. Federal law also allows other states under certain circumstances to adopt California’s standards as their own. California’s waivers have never been presented to Congress for a vote.
As the fifth-biggest economy in the world, California exerts significant market influence. Eleven other states have said they will follow California’s lead and ban the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035. Together, they make up nearly half the U.S. auto market.
Because of that, Republicans argue that California is setting a de facto national policy that should be reviewed by Congress. The Trump administration, which is dismissive of climate change and wants to increase the production and use of fossil fuels, has made the California waiver a top target.
Mr. Trump has signed executive orders and introduced policies to promote fossil fuels at a rapid pace, frequently barreling through guardrails. Ann Carlson, a professor of environmental law at the University of California, Los Angeles, called the auto waiver strategy part of “a pattern with this administration of saying ‘We want to destroy something and we’re going to take the fastest path to do so whether or not it complies with the law.’”
But Scott Segal, a partner at Bracewell, a law firm that represents fossil fuel and renewable energy companies, said it is “entirely appropriate” for Congress to weigh in, given that so many other states adopt California’s standards.
“It’s California’s request that it be allowed to regulate, and regulate in a way that drags a bunch of other states with it,” Mr. Segal said. “It’s a market-setting, insidious regulation.”
Lee Zeldin, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, could withdraw the waiver. But that would require months of public notice and comment.
Instead, Mr. Zeldin last week submitted the automobile waiver to Congress along with two other California waivers approved by the E.P.A. last year. One requires that half of all new heavy-duty vehicles sold in the state to be electric by 2035 and the other restricts nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter pollution from cars and trucks. He called them “extremely consequential actions that have massive impacts and costs across the entire United States.”
“The American people are struggling to make ends meet while dealing with rules that take away their ability to choose a safe and affordable vehicle for their families,” Mr. Zeldin said.
California has used the waiver to rein in soot, nitrogen dioxide and ozone that lead to asthma and lung disease. The state has also deployed it to curb greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, a chief cause of global warming. Gas-powered cars and other forms of transportation are the biggest source of carbon dioxide generated by the United States.
The state leads the country in its embrace of electric vehicles. In 2023, electric vehicles accounted for more than 30 percent of auto registrations in the San Francisco Bay Area, according to S&P Global Mobility, which provides data analysis to the automotive industry. In Los Angeles, that number was close to 25 percent. Last year, California surpassed two million zero-emissions vehicles sold.
Republicans say that the simple act of submitting the waivers to Congress now makes them eligible for repeal under the Congressional Review Act.
Amit Narang, a consultant for a group of nonprofit organizations called the Coalition for Sensible Safeguards, said the action by Republicans could open the door to using the Congressional Review Act to revoke all kinds of decisions like permits for oil and gas leasing, the approval of company mergers or Medicaid waivers for states. “If they do this, it means there’s no limits anymore,” Mr. Narang said.
On Wednesday, Republican leaders in Congress began to use the act to rescind seven other climate and environmental regulations approved by the Biden administration.
Among them was a rule that limits the amount of methane that can be released by oil and gas companies and charges a fine when they exceed that amount. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas.
The methane rule, which was mandated as part of the 2022 the Inflation Reduction Act, called for large energy producers to pay $900 for every ton of methane emissions that exceeds the limits. The fee was to increase to $1,200 in 2025 and plateau in 2026 at $1,500 per ton. The Trump administration had already told E.P.A. employees not to enforce the methane rule, according to several people familiar with the directive who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The House voted 220 to 206 on Wednesday to overturn the methane rule.
In coming days, Republicans are also expected to erase regulations that ban certain natural gas water heaters, impose environmental standards on equipment used in certain drilling situations and limit emissions from rubber tire manufacturers.
