House follows Senate in voting for resolution to halt tougher EPA vehicle emission standards

The GOP-led House on Tuesday voted in favor of a resolution to strike down the Environmental Protection Agency’s  emissions restrictions for heavy-duty trucks. 

The joint-chamber resolution, which passed the House by a 221-203 vote, was introduced by Republican lawmakers in February via the Congressional Review Act (CRA) – a law that allows Congress to reverse rules made by a federal agency.

Passed by the Senate last month in a narrow 50-49 vote, the resolution now heads to President Biden’s desk, where the White House previously said he would veto the bill in response.

The EPA’s decree was first announced in 2021 and finalized in December of last year. It was touted by the agency as the "strongest-ever national clean air standards." In addition, the decree forces manufacturers, trucking companies and more to take drastic steps to cut carbon emissions for their products, which are over 80% stricter than the standards that have been in place for decades.

Both Republicans and Democrats have heavily criticized the Biden rules. West Virginia Democratic Senator Joe Manchin called it “oppressive regulations” that will “push truck drivers and small trucking companies out of business” through high costs. Michigan Republican Rep. Tim Walberg appeared to second such sentiments, saying the agency’s push would “upend” the “entire economy.”

Other EPA measures under Biden have also received intense scrutiny across party lines. Along with his rebuke of the truck rules, Sen. Manchin vowed he would vote to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act, which he previously supported, and oppose all Biden EPA nominees over the agency’s plan to require power plants to slash nearly all of their CO2 emissions, which many experts say would spell disaster for the nation’s power grid.

Perhaps most notably, the EPA has proposed requiring roughly two-thirds of all new car sales to be fully electric by 2032, a move that is still garnering widespread opposition.

In his first days in office, President Biden directed all federal agencies to aggressively push for rules and policy changes to combat climate change by pushing for a green energy transformation. 

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