The Senate will vote this week to strip California of its ability to set strict emissions standards, a controversial move that puts Republicans in conflict with the chamber’s parliamentarian.
In a defiant speech from the Senate floor, Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) insisted that Republicans were not weakening the filibuster by ignoring the Governmental Accountability Office, which found the standards are not subject to repeal.
Democrats have denounced the planned vote since parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough, a nonpartisan arbiter of Senate rules, sided with the GAO finding. If followed, the decision would have prevented Republicans from considering the waiver at a simple majority threshold.
“This debate is not about destroying Senate procedure, or any other hysterical claim that Democrats are making. And I have to say that my colleagues’ newfound interest in defending Senate procedure is touching — if a touch surprising,” Thune said on Tuesday.
“It’s only last year Democrats were planning to destroy one of the bedrocks of the Senate, the legislative filibuster, and of course Democrats’ concern about overruling the parliamentarian is a bit unexpected, given Democrats’ documented history of attempting to do exactly that,” he added.
Democrats have expressed support for eliminating the filibuster, or at least creating new carve-outs to it, but were stymied in the last Congress by a handful of centrists bucking their own caucus.
Thune’s announcement followed days of hand-wringing by a group of Senate Republicans concerned about ignoring the parliamentarian and the precedent it could set. The topic has been discussed at repeated Senate lunches, and on Monday night, according to Politico, Thune met with four Republicans to discuss the vote.
Ultimately, Thune argued the waivers count as rules under the Congressional Review Act, allowing them to be undone at 50 rather than 60 votes. This has been the interpretation of the House and Trump administration, both controlled by Republicans, and Thune said it was the Senate’s prerogative to follow suit.
“It is true that we are facing something of a novel situation, because for the first time ever, the Government Accountability Office has decided to insert itself into the process and affirmatively declare that an agency rule submitted to Congress as a rule is not a rule,” Thune said, calling the GAO finding an “extraordinary deviation from precedent for an agency that should be defending Congress’s power instead of constraining it.”
“And frankly,” he added, “I think we need to act to ensure that this intrusion into the Congressional Review Act process doesn’t become a habit, and that the Senate doesn’t end up transferring its decision-making power on CRA resolutions to the Government Accountability Office.”
Sen. John Curtis (R-UT), one of the Republicans to attend the Monday meeting with Thune, said the situation was precedent-setting, but in terms of the GAO’s authority.
“It’s basically resolving an answer of, what is GAO’s role in this?” Curtis told the Washington Examiner, dismissing the idea that Republicans were destroying the filibuster with their vote.
“It’s not even close,” he added.
The waivers, granted under the Biden administration to set new emissions standards and allow for California’s electric vehicle mandate, mark the latest showdown over the Senate parliamentarian for Republicans. They have also decided to use a novel accounting method to score their tax bill, regardless of whether MacDonough deems the decision in compliance with strict budget rules.
In a statement, Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) vowed to slow down President Donald Trump’s nominees for the Environmental Protection Agency over the repeal vote.
“If this attempt is successful, the consequences will be far-reaching, not only for our clean energy economy, the air our children breathe, and for our climate, but for the future of the CRA and for the Senate as an institution,” Padilla said.
WHY REPEALING CALIFORNIA’S EV MANDATE IS DIVIDING SENATE REPUBLICANS
Thune called the waivers “an improper expansion of a limited Clean Air Act authority,” framing them as a threat to the economy and domestic energy production.
The House has already voted to repeal the environmental waivers granted to California, meaning the resolutions could be sent to Trump’s desk before the Memorial Day recess.
Ramsey Touchberry contributed to this report.