Overview
- Senate Republicans led by Sen. Cynthia Lummis introduced multiple Congressional Review Act resolutions to nullify EPA waivers that let California set stricter emissions rules for cars, small engines and greenhouse gases.
- The package targets three specific waivers: the 2009 greenhouse-gas waiver for passenger vehicles, a 2022 waiver restoring the Advanced Clean Cars program, and a 2025 waiver covering small off-road engines like leaf blowers and chainsaws.
- Sponsors say the waivers have produced de facto nationwide standards because manufacturers often build to California rules instead of making separate product lines, and they want CRA language to bar future agencies from reissuing substantially similar regulations.
- Opponents argue the move would weaken California’s long-standing Clean Air Act authority to combat severe local pollution and that disputes over the resolutions are likely to move through committee, floor debate and court challenges if passed.
- The Clean Air Act historically allowed California a narrow waiver to set stricter rules for local air problems, and this fight expands last year’s rescissions into a broader legal and political contest over who should set U.S. emissions policy and how that will affect consumers and businesses.