House passes bill blocking Biden admin attempt to require two-thirds of new cars to be electric within years

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The Biden administration's attempt to set new emissions standards on electric vehicles was blocked by a bipartisan group of lawmakers on Friday. 

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a final rule in March under the Clean Air Act to set new emissions standards that would require up to two-thirds of new cars sold to be electric vehicles by 2032.

The new standards would affect "light-duty vehicle manufacturers, independent commercial importers, alternative fuel converters, and manufacturers and converters of medium-duty vehicles," according to the EPA's final rule.

The House passed the Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution on Friday, introduced by Rep. John James, R-Mich., to block the "out-of-touch regulation" from being enacted.

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A Tesla Model 3 charges at a ChargePoint electric vehicle charging station in Rhinebeck, New York, on Sept. 3. (Angus Mordant/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The amendment was passed with bipartisan support, with eight Democrats voting for the bill.

Democrats who opposed the bill argued that the EPA's rule was "very important" in reducing emissions, but James, speaking on the House floor ahead of the vote, called the Biden administration's new standards "catastrophic."

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"The Biden-Harris Administration’s EPA tailpipe emission rule is another out-of-touch regulation that will crater the Michigan auto industry and decimate our middle-class and most vulnerable," James said in a press release after the bill passed. "This is a de-facto electric vehicle mandate that will put all 77,580 manufacturing jobs in MI-10 at great risk of extinction. I am grateful that the House passed this measure to prevent the Biden-Harris administration’s rule from ravaging the livelihoods of thousands in Michigan and across the country."

Rep. John James, R-Mich., during a news conference in Washington, D.C., on May 1. (Anna Moneymaker)

"Vice President Harris made it clear from the start that one of her top priorities is mandating electric vehicles and getting rid of combustion engines, and like she said, her values haven’t changed. The Biden-Harris EPA continues to place extreme standards on pollutants and greenhouse gasses for vehicles in an attempt to make Americans to switch to EVs, taking away consumer choice, forcing unaffordable options on American families and workers, and crushing jobs," Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said in a press release following the vote.

President Biden addresses the Baltimore bridge collapse in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on March 26. (Pedro Ugarte/Getty Images)

The bill's passing comes just one day after the American Energy Alliance and over two dozen energy groups sent a letter to members of Congress urging them to pass the CRA.

"This rule on tailpipe emissions standards is a massive overreach, using a novel application of EPA motor vehicle authorities in an attempt to force a transition in the motor vehicles market to products that align with the ideological preferences of the Biden administration," the groups wrote in a letter to lawmakers on Thursday.

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The bipartisan legislation is being mirrored in the Senate by Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., who introduced the chamber's CRA version in May.