Romney, Colleagues Introduce Bipartisan Measures to Overturn Biden’s Recent EV Mandates

WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) today joined a bipartisan and bicameral group of colleagues, led by Senators Pete Ricketts (R-NE) and Dan Sullivan (R-AK), and Representatives John James (R-MI) and Russ Fulcher (R-ID), in introducing Congressional Review Act (CRA) legislation to block the Biden Administration’s electric vehicle (EV) mandates. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently finalized new emissions regulations which would require up to two-thirds of new cars and nearly 40% of trucks sold in the U.S. to be EVs in eight years. The lawmakers introduced two separate CRA resolutions: one for light-duty and medium-duty vehicles and the other for the heavy-duty vehicles.

“The Biden Administration continues to roll out climate regulations that may be politically attractive, but won’t put a dent in lowering global emissions,” said Senator Romney. “These rules will not only make it burdensome for Utahns in rural parts of my state, but they will also increase the United States’ reliance on China for batteries. The Administration would be wise to direct its focus on the development of new technologies which could be adopted globally.”

“President Biden’s EV mandate is delusional,” said Senator Ricketts. “This rule will make it harder for low-income families to buy a car or rural families to get to their jobs. I promised Nebraskans I’d use every tool I have to fight this. Our bipartisan legislation will keep costs down, defend consumer choice, and protect us against becoming more dependent on the CCP.”

“These regulations are not only disastrous for our economy, but Alaskans know well that EV technology just doesn’t work in rural states—especially those with extreme cold temperatures and communities separated by thousands of miles where reliable transportation is a matter of life and death,” said Senator Sullivan. “Make no mistake, this thinly-disguised attempt to get rid of the internal-combustion engine without congressional authority will only hurt hard-working families across the country, worsen the supply chain crisis, and deepen our reliance on Chinese Communist Party-controlled critical minerals. We’re urging every one of our colleagues to put the interests of American families above the demands of the radical environmentalists, and support our CRA resolutions overturning these ludicrous rules to ensure Americans and Alaskans continue to have access to the vehicles of their choice that actually work.”

Background:

Title II of the Clean Air Act (CAA) addresses transportation-based sources of air pollution emissions via the tailpipe by seeking to reduce vehicle emission, as well as fuel. Within Title II, CAA section 202 provides the EPA with the authority to set emission standards for new motor vehicles.

Beginning in 2010, the EPA began to interpret CAA section 202 as providing the Agency authority to regulate greenhouse gas (GHGs) emissions from cars and trucks. Between 2010 and the end of 2022, EPA had promulgated three rounds of GHG standards for light-duty vehicles covering model years 2012–2026, and two rounds of GHG standards for medium-duty and heavy-duty trucks covering model years 2014–2027.

Light-Duty and Medium-Duty Vehicles Rule: On Wednesday, April 12, 2023, EPA announced the “Multi-Pollutant Emissions Standards for Model Years 2027 and Later Light-Duty and Medium-Duty Vehicles,” a proposed rule to reduce emissions from light-duty and medium-duty vehicles starting with model year (MY) 2027 through MY2032. In this rule, EPA proposed multipollutant emissions standards for light-duty passenger cars and light trucks and Class 2b and 3 vehicles (“medium-duty vehicles”). EPA estimated that, due to this proposal, EVs will make up two-thirds of new vehicles by MY2032, a whopping 67% of overall vehicle production. In 2022, EVs accounted for a mere 5.8% of new cars sold in the US. The Administration unveiled their finalized light and medium-duty vehicles rule March 20, 2024.

Heavy-Duty Vehicles Rule: On Wednesday, April 12, 2023, EPA announced the “Greenhouse Gas Standards for Heavy-Duty Vehicles – Phase 3” which would apply to heavy-duty vocational vehicles such as delivery trucks, refuse haulers, dump trucks, public utility trucks, transit, shuttle, school buses and trucks typically used to haul freight. These standards built on the Heavy-Duty NOx standards for MY 2027 and beyond, which EPA finalized in December 2022, representing the third phase of EPA’s “Clean Trucks Plan.” The administration unveiled their finalized heavy-duty vehicles rule on March 29, 2024.