The House is set to vote next week on overturning the Biden-era approvals of California regulations to ban sales of new gas-powered cars, The Hill reported Wednesday.
However, according to a ruling from the Government Accountability Office, under the Congressional Review Act, Congress does not have the authority to overturn the ban, as the Environmental Protection Agency issued a notice or order rather than a rule on the matter. Per the GAO, under the act, an agency must submit a rule to be overturned. The nonpartisan watchdog's report indicates that the House vote may lack legal standing.
Nonetheless, a spokesperson for House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., told The Hill that a vote will commence next week.
In April, House Oversight sent a letter to the GAO, announcing it would review the watchdog's "decision to publish observations on the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) submission of Clean Air Act (CAA) waivers as rules under the Congressional Review Act (CRA)."
"GAO's decision to publish observations in this matter is inconsistent with its own plain language description of its role in monitoring 'agency compliance' with obligations to 'submit major and non-major rules to Congress and GAO,'" House Oversight Chair James Comer, R-Ky., and Energy and Commerce Chair Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., wrote to the GAO.
"In passing the CRA, Congress intended for GAO to help safeguard congressional authority through published observations on agency attempts to side-step CRA requirements. GAO's decision to adversely opine on an agency's efforts to comply with the CRA is a distortion of its role and could make agencies less likely to follow the intent of this important statute in the future."
Nick Koutsobinas ✉
Nick Koutsobinas, a Newsmax writer, has years of news reporting experience. A graduate from Missouri State University’s philosophy program, he focuses on exposing corruption and censorship.
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