May 22, 2025
DENVER — The U.S. Senate today passed H.J. Res. 87, H.J. Res. 88 and H.J. Res. 89, striking down the three waivers that allow states to adopt stronger vehicle pollution standards than those required federally.
The resolutions, introduced by House Republicans in April under the Congressional Review Act, overturn three of California’s Clean Air Act waivers designed to advance vehicle pollution standards — Advanced Clean Cars, Advanced Clean Trucks and the Heavy-Duty Omnibus rule — and undermine nearly 50 years of precedent under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Prior to today’s vote, other states could either rely on the weaker federal standard or adopt these more ambitious emissions standards, so these three rules were the nation’s most robust path to decarbonize the transportation sector and protect people from dangerous air pollution. Fourteen states have already adopted at least one of these rules — representing over a third of the U.S. auto market — including Colorado and New Mexico in the Interior West.
This is, plain and simple, a vote against clean air to breathe. This vote unravels one of our country’s most important and durable environmental protections, undermining action on the mounting challenges posed by climate change and local air pollution, and threatening affordable transportation, secure investments in auto manufacturing and global competitiveness.
Critically, unlike revocation of these waivers under the EPA, as seen in President Trump’s first term, rules reversed under the Congressional Review Act may not be reissued in substantially the same form without a new law from Congress.
Instead of just hitting pause, this vote is like wiping the hard drive completely. Fifty years of precedent and progress gone, and it is Americans who will bear the consequences. This will mean increasing costs at the pump, more lost days at school or work due to air pollution, premature deaths and worsening impacts from a changing climate.
The non-partisan Senate parliamentarian and Government Accountability Office have agreed that these waivers are not subject to reversal under the Congressional Review Act, and many consider this use of the Act to be an unprecedented and reckless attack on states’ ability to take action to protect their residents and the environment. This vote will allow the EPA to evade accountability to both the public and the courts and this overrule of the parliamentarian threatens other long-held Senate norms, like those that protect the filibuster.
This decision also runs counter to growing customer demand for electric vehicles (EVs). Over the last three years EV sales as a percentage of all new vehicle sales have more than doubled in the U.S., with market share reaching an all-time high of 10.9% in the fourth quarter of 2024. In states like Colorado, EV market share is even higher, with sales surpassing 25% of all vehicles sold in the third quarter of 2024.
Abolishing these waivers also poses a direct threat to the communities in the Interior West that are especially vulnerable to the effects of smog, ozone and tailpipe emissions. Air pollution is known to cause asthma, lung disease and heart conditions, and vulnerable populations like children are most at risk. Gas-powered transit is the biggest source of planet-warming carbon dioxide in the U.S., which is causing increasingly dangerous wildfires, drought and heat waves in the Interior West.
We all breathe the same air. It is deeply troubling to see our elected leaders callously disregarding the significant environmental and public health benefits of these standards, undermining our right to livable cities and healthy futures.
