Even in an institution as storied as the U.S. Senate, issues arise that have not been previously litigated, and a unique question is posed to this body.
Such is the case of the California Clean Air Act waivers, which aim to implement a stringent electric vehicle mandate that would affect not just the state of California but the whole country.
There is nothing novel about how to proceed with the rules an agency presents to Congress. Congress regularly receives and overturns rules through the Congressional Review Act, as the Senate has done 14 times this year.
Instead, the novel question before us is what to do when the Government Accountability Office has inserted itself for the first time ever to declare that rules submitted to Congress are not actually rules and therefore cannot be overturned through the CRA. Never before has GAO acted to constrain Congress’s power, instead of affirming it, so this situation stinks of an agency that has lost sight of its purpose.
Cautious of precedent and future ramifications, senators consulted with the Senate parliamentarian. She noted that this is a novel situation and stated that she would defer to GAO if forced to rule.
The audacious GAO now leaves the Senate with a simple choice: either we overrule GAO’s improper action and return rulemaking authority to elected officials, or we allow unelected bureaucrats to constrain Congress’s Article I authority.
This week, I will bring this question to the floor and vote to repeal these rules and GAO’s overreach. I encourage my colleagues to do the same and reinforce the Senate’s standing to repeal onerous administrative rules.
The debate over these waivers and Senate Democrats’ recent time in the minority has caused some Democrats to feign concern over the future of the legislative filibuster. Mind you, these same Senate Democrats came two votes shy of permanently remaking the Senate and the country by eliminating the legislative filibuster in 2022.
As a staunch supporter of the legislative filibuster who has voted consistently on this issue, which, again, is something my Democrat colleagues cannot say, let me be clear: This debate has nothing to do with the filibuster. The 60-vote threshold for legislation in the Senate remains untouched. This debate is about the novel issue that GAO created by improperly intervening to protect Biden-era rules. Our response is narrowly focused on how the Senate should handle this action as it applies to the CRA.
THUNE IGNORES PARLIAMENTARIAN TO TEE UP CALIFORNIA EMISSIONS VOTE
I suspect that the Senate Democrats who are drumming up concern for the rule they not-so-secretly want to eliminate when they’re back in charge are doing so to further their campaign against the filibuster. Last October, I made a promise to my colleagues and the country that a vote for Republicans is a vote to keep the legislative filibuster intact.
It may be frustrating at times for the majority, but majorities are temporary, and this Republican-led Senate will keep the Senate’s filibuster rules in place — you have my word.
John Thune is a United States senator from South Dakota and the Senate Majority Leader.