THOMAS PYLE: Congressional Bureaucrats Are Working To Preserve the Electric Vehicle Mandate

In December 2024, during his administration’s final days in office, former President Biden approved the “California waiver,” a unique Clean Air Act provision that lets California impose tougher vehicle emissions standards than those set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This particular waiver request was for a specific rule, known as Advanced Clean Cars II, which would essentially ban the sale of gasoline-powered cars in the Golden State.

It’s no surprise that President Biden granted California’s gas-powered car ban since it undermines President Trump’s promise to end his predecessor’s electric vehicle (EV) mandate. In response, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin submitted the rule to Congress for review, stating that the failure by the Biden administration to do so prevented Members of Congress “from deciding on extremely consequential actions that have massive impacts and costs across the entire United States.” He’s right.

Under the Congressional Review Act (CRA), a little-known but important law, Congress can review and potentially overturn rules issued by federal agencies. It is the best tool Congressional Republicans have to reverse the waiver and end the EV mandate.

It appears, however, that unelected bureaucrats are working to prevent Congress from ending the EV mandate. The Government Accountability Office (GAO), responding to a request from a handful of Democratic Senators, recently issued a memo claiming that the waiver isn’t technically a rule that can be overturned by the CRA, but an adjudicatory order, which is a “case-specific, individual determination of a particular set of facts.”