Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) is placing a hold on the Trump administration’s picks for key roles at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over Republican efforts to ax a California state rule that phases out new gas-powered cars in the state.
The hold may not ultimately block the four pending EPA nominees from being confirmed, but it will slow the process, requiring the chamber to spend hours debating and taking additional votes for each nominee.
With a handful of nominees, holds are more of an annoyance, though in some cases, like when Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) put holds on hundreds of military promotions, they have successfully delayed nominations for a significant period.
Padilla’s office said in a written statement that his hold would last “until Republicans stop their reckless attempts to overrule the Senate Parliamentarian’s decision regarding California’s clean air waivers.”
Republicans are attempting to overturn the Biden administration’s approval of a California state rule that bans the sale of new gas-powered cars in the state by 2035. They’re similarly targeting approvals of state rules governing truck emissions and air pollution.
They’re trying to use a legislative tool called the Congressional Review Act (CRA) that allows Congress to target recently issued rules using a simple majority vote, avoiding the Senate’s 60-vote filibuster threshold.
However, internal arbiters in both the House and the Senate have ruled that the Biden-era approval is not a rule and therefore is not subject to the CRA. The House has moved ahead anyway, and the Senate has said it will do so as well.
Padilla, in a new statement, criticized how the Trump EPA has handled the approval, saying the agency submitted its predecessor’s moves as “rules” to Congress rather than a “waivers” to help get rid of them.
“This objection is a direct result of the agency’s cynical attempt to weaponize the Congressional Review Act (CRA) by attempting to submit as ‘rules’ three waivers issued to the State of California under the Clean Air Act (CAA),” he said in a statement.
“If this attempt is successful, the consequences will be far-reaching, not only for our clean energy economy, the air our children breathe, and for our climate, but for the future of the CRA and for the Senate as an institution,” he added.
Democrats have accused their Republican counterparts of using the “nuclear option,” effectively eliminating the filibuster when it’s convenient for them. However, Senate Republicans argue that because their parliamentarian’s decision was based on a ruling from the GAO, it should not apply.
“We are not talking about doing anything to erode the institutional character of the Senate. In fact, we are talking about preserving the Senate’s prerogatives,” Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said Tuesday in a speech teeing up the vote.