Senate votes to block California's rule banning the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035

WASHINGTON — The Senate voted on Thursday to block California's first-in-the nation rule banning the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035, moving to kill the country's most aggressive effort to transition toward electric vehicles as President Donald Trump's administration has doubled down on fossil fuels.

The measure overturning the rule now goes to the White House, where Trump is expected to sign it, along with two other resolutions that would block California rules curbing tailpipe emissions in certain vehicles and smog-forming nitrogen oxide pollution from trucks. All three measures were approved by the Senate on Thursday and by the House earlier this month.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, and state air regulators say that what Congress is doing is illegal and they will sue to keep the rules in place.

''This is not about electric vehicles,'' Newsom said at a news conference while the Senate was still voting on the measures. ''This is about polluters being able to pollute more.''

California Attorney General Rob Bonta said the state plans to sue over the way that Republicans passed the measures blocking the emissions rules. Senate Republicans established a narrow exception to the filibuster Wednesday to clear the way for the votes.

The GOP effort could have a profound impact on California's longtime efforts to curb air pollution. California makes up roughly 11% of the U.S. car market, giving it significant power to shape purchasing trends — especially because about a dozen states have already followed California's lead. Vehicles are one of the largest sources of planet-warming emissions.

Senate Democrats charged that Republicans are acting at the behest of the oil and gas industry and they say California should be able to set its own standards after obtaining waivers from the Environmental Protection Agency.

Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said the votes should ''send a chill down the spine of legislators in every state."

''What we have at stake is a state's ability, it's right to make its own laws and to protect its own citizens, without having this body overturn that right,'' Schiff said.

Republicans say the phaseout of gas-powered cars, along with other waivers that California has obtained from the EPA, is costly for consumers and manufacturers, puts pressure on the nation's energy grid and has become a de facto nationwide electric vehicle mandate.

''America cannot meet these impossible standards –- not next year, and not in 10 years,'' said Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, the second-ranking Republican.

Newsom announced plans in 2020 to ban the sale of all new gas-powered vehicles within 15 years as part of an aggressive effort to lower emissions from the transportation sector. Plug-in hybrids and used gas cars could still be sold.

The Biden administration approved the state's waiver to implement the standards in December, a month before Trump returned to office. The California rules are stricter than a Biden-era rule that tightens emissions standards but does not require sales of electric vehicles.

Biden's EPA said in announcing the decision that opponents of the California waivers did not meet their legal burden to show how either the EV rule or a separate measure on heavy-duty vehicles was inconsistent with the Clean Air Act.

Republicans have long criticized California's waivers and have worked to find a way to overturn them. The Government Accountability Office said earlier this year that California's policies are not subject to the Congressional Review Act, a law that allows Congress to reject federal regulations under certain circumstances with a simple majority vote not subject to the filibuster. The Senate parliamentarian agreed with that ruling, but Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., cleared the way for the votes anyway with a workaround that established a new Senate precedent.

Democrats fought those changes, which were the latest attempt to chip away at the Senate filibuster after both parties have used their majorities in the past two decades to lower the threshold for nominations. Democrats tried in 2022 to roll back the filibuster for legislation, as well, but were thwarted by members of their own caucus who disagreed with the effort.

Republicans have insisted that they would not try a similar move after regaining the majority this year. But Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said the move to block California's laws were a ''point of no return'' and called the Republicans ''fair weather institutionalists.''

Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan was the only Democrat to support the measure to block the phaseout of gas-powered vehicles. She said in a statement after the vote that she has a ''special responsibility to stand up for the more than one million Michiganders whose livelihoods depend on the U.S. auto industry.''

John Bozzella, president and CEO of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, an auto industry association and lobby group, said there is a gap between the vehicles that car buyers are purchasing and the rules that would force a transition to electric vehicles.

''The fact is these EV sales mandates were never achievable," Bozzella said.

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Austin reported from Sacramento. Associated Press writers Alexa St. John in Detroit and Matthew Daly contributed to this report.

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Austin is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Austin on X: @sophieadanna