House backs measure to overturn Biden auto emissions rule that Republicans say would force EV sales

WASHINGTON (AP) — The GOP-controlled House approved a resolution Friday that would overturn a new Biden administration rule on automobile emissions that Republicans say would force Americans to buy unaffordable electric vehicles they don’t want.

The rule issued by the Environmental Protection Agency in March would impose the most ambitious standards ever in the United States to cut planet-warming emissions from passenger vehicles.

The actions come as EV sales, needed to meet the standards, have begun to slow.

While former President Donald Trump and other Republicans have lambasted the rule as an EV “mandate,’' the rule would not force all sales of EVs. Under the regulation, industry could meet the limits if 56% of new vehicle sales are electric by 2032, the EPA said. The standard also would require at least 13% plug-in hybrids or other partially electric cars by 2032, as well as more efficient gasoline-powered cars that get more miles to the gallon than cars currently on the road.

The projected EV sales rate would be a huge increase over current sales, which rose to 7.6% of new vehicles last year, up from 5.8% in 2022.

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“The EPA’s latest tailpipe emissions rule is not really about reducing air pollution. It’s about forcing Americans to drive electric vehicles,’' said Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Washington, the chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

She called the rule “unreasonable” and “just another example of how the Biden-Harris administration’s rush-to-green agenda is handing China the key to America’s energy future, jeopardizing our auto industry and forcing people to buy unaffordable EVs they don’t want.’'

New Jersey Rep. Frank Pallone, the top Democrat on the energy panel, called the House measure “yet another Republican effort to attack the Clean Air Act and roll back commonsense air pollution protections.’'

The GOP action “puts the profits of corporate polluters over the health and safety of the American people,’' Pallone said, adding that resolution is “ripped right out of Trump’s extreme Project 2025 playbook.’'

Instead of focusing on funding the government, which is set to shut down at the end of this month, “Republicans are wasting time by bringing up this resolution they know has zero chance at becoming law,’' Pallone said, noting that even if the measure passes in the Democratic-controlled Senate it faces a certain veto from President Joe Biden.

“This is yet another example of Republicans failing to be serious about governing or working to implement policies that actually benefit the American people,’' Pallone said.

The House passed the measure, 215-191. Eight Democrats voted in favor, while one Republican, Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, voted no.

Republican Rep. John James of Michigan, who sponsored the resolution, said the “out-of-touch regulation” would “crater the Michigan auto industry and decimate our middle-class and most vulnerable’’ citizens.

“Folks in my district simply can’t afford to spend an additional $12,000 on an expensive, unreliable EV,’' James said. “Allowing the Biden-Harris administration to continue stifling consumer choice will only harm the American people.’'

The EPA rule applies to model years 2027 to 2032 and would avoid more than 7 billion tons of planet-warming carbon emissions over the next three decades, providing nearly $100 billion in annual net benefits, including lower health care costs, fewer deaths and more than $60 billion in reduced annual costs for fuel, maintenance and repairs, the EPA said.

Cars and trucks make up the largest single source of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.

The new standards are designed to be technology-neutral and performance-based, EPA Administrator Michael Regan said, noting that there are “multiple pathways companies can choose to comply″ with the rule. The EPA could achieve its carbon pollution goals even if sales of battery electric vehicles are as low as 30% in 2032, as long as stringent standards for gas-powered cars are met, he said.

Biden, who has made fighting climate change a hallmark of his presidency, cited “historic progress” on his pledge that half of all new cars and trucks sold in the U.S. will be zero-emission by 2030.

“We’ll meet my goal for 2030 and race forward in the years ahead,″ Biden said when the rule was issued in March.