The Senate voted on a resolution to reverse a Biden administration rule that seeks to regulate automobile emissions in the states. This is an effort by the federal government to impose the president's climate agenda on state governments.
The resolution, introduced by Senators Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), and Joe Manchin (D-WV), passed with a slim margin of 53 to 47, sending the measure to the House of Representatives.
Three Democratic senators and independent Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema joined Republicans to repeal the rule.
According to the Washington Examiner, the resolution introduced in the Senate was a reaction to regulations finalized in November by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA0), part of the Department of Transportation. It establishes a method for the agency to measure and report greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles in the states.
Those regulations required state departments of transportation and local planning organizations to set goals for reducing carbon emissions and report on progress based on those goals.
Although the regulations did not require a minimum reduction target, Republicans and moderate Democrats questioned the rule as an overreach by the Biden administration.
"Now, we, the elected policymakers in our system, have the opportunity to correct course and spare the taxpayers the gross expense of litigating this demonstration of bureaucratic arrogance," Sen. Kevin Cramer said during a floor speech on Wednesday.
"Few things are more frustrating in government than un-elected bureaucrats asserting authority they don't have and foisting federal mediocrity on the excellence of states," said the senator who led the resolution along with Moore Capito and Manchin.
The resolution comes at a time when various states are fighting against the measure issued by the Biden administration.
Last week, Kentucky judge Benjamin Beaton ruled that the Federal Highway Administration rule is illegal.
The Kentucky judge's decision coincides with that made last week by Judge James Wesley Hendrix of Texas, who annulled said measure.
