House votes to revoke tougher EPA emissions regulation for trucks
By Clare Foran and Ted Barrett, CNN
(CNN) — The House voted Tuesday to rescind a Biden administration emissions regulation for heavy-duty trucks.
The Senate voted to overturn the rule in April, so it will now be sent to President Joe Biden’s desk. The White House has said the president will veto it.
A veto override would require a two-thirds vote in both chambers, a high threshold not expected to be reached.
Republicans criticize the emissions rule as overly burdensome, arguing it will hurt the trucking industry and have negative ripple effects through the economy. Democrats say the rule is needed to limit pollution and improve air quality across the US.
The House vote broke down mostly along party lines with Republicans voting to rescind and Democrats voting to leave the rule in place amid just a few crossover votes. The final tally was 221 to 203.
In the Senate, the vote to overturn the rule was 50-49. Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia was the only Democrat to vote with Republicans.
Republicans utilized the Congressional Review Act, which allows legislation to advance at a majority threshold, not the 60 votes typically needed to break a filibuster and pass a measure in the Senate.
The final rule, which was adopted by the Environmental Protection Agency in December, sets “new emission standards that are significantly more stringent and that cover a wider range of heavy-duty engine operating conditions compared to today’s standards,” according to the EPA, which said the change is needed because emissions from those trucks are “important contributors to concentrations of ozone and particulate matter and their resulting threat to public health.”
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