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.”
Another Congressional bureaucrat, the Senate Parliamentarian, is also attempting to put up roadblocks on the path to ending President Biden’s EV mandate. Elizabeth MacDonough, appointed by former Democratic Senator Harry Reid, recently stated that she believed the waiver isn’t reviewable under the CRA. She’s wrong.
The Congressional Review Act (CRA) couldn’t be clearer: once an agency action lands on Congress’s desk for review, lawmakers have the authority to scrutinize and, if they choose, strike it down. The process is straightforward—pass a resolution of disapproval through both chambers, get the president’s signature, and it becomes binding federal law under the Constitution. Nowhere does the law suggest Congress needs a green light from the GAO or the Senate Parliamentarian first. Congressional leadership should ignore these bureaucrats.
Such tactics are a hallmark of a bloated Congressional bureaucracy that often prioritizes its own interests over public service. The GAO has historically dragged its feet on Republican-backed efforts—sometimes taking months—while rushing to accommodate requests from the Democrats. Reps. James Comer (R-KY) and Brett Guthrie (R-KY) recently highlighted this in a letter to the GAO’s head, noting it typically spends three months on routine CRA questions but issued a fast-tracked ruling against Republicans in days or weeks at Democrats’ request. Recently, Reps. Comer and Guthrie called out the GAO on this inconsistency in a letter to the U.S. Comptroller General. They emphasized how the GAO “has typically taken three months to study far more conventional questions of CRA compliance,” but, in this case, “pursuant to a request by three members of the Senate minority, the GAO issued a highly unusual adverse declaration after only a matter of weeks.”
It’s a positive sign to see Republicans calling out the GAO for these obvious delay tactics. However, they need to do it more frequently and to more agencies, as this isn’t an isolated case. For example, Republicans should have made a bigger deal about the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) issuing an absurdly low cost estimate of $370 billion for the green energy subsidies in the Inflation Reduction Act, which the Cato Institute recently found could be up to $1.97 trillion over the next ten years. Since the CBO doesn’t publish replication codes or detailed methodologies, it’s easy for the agency to publish a friendly estimate without causing a scene.
The battle over California’s Advanced Clean Cars II waiver underscores a critical conflict between Republican-led reform and a federal bureaucracy that consistently shields itself at the expense of its democratic legitimacy. All of this reveals a clear pattern: agencies obstruct Republican priorities while expediting Democratic agendas, undermining any chance for meaningful policy change. This isn’t just inefficiency—it’s a deliberate barrier to reform. Executive orders from President Trump can set a direction, but real progress hinges on Congress decisively reining in this unaccountable administrative state. If Republicans fail to act, the bureaucracy will continue to dictate the policy process, rendering Republican election victories meaningless.
Congressional Republicans should ignore these bureaucratic attempts to undermine President Trump’s agenda. The law, and the voters, are clearly on their side.
Thomas Pyle is the President of the American Energy Alliance.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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