House to Vote on Emissions Rule Repeal

The House of Representatives is expected to vote this week on a joint resolution to disapprove a rule finalized by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in April. We estimate that overturning the rule – which would create new carbon dioxide emissions standards that would push more consumers to purchase electric vehicles over the next decade – would reduce projected deficits by roughly $150 billion over a decade.

Lawmakers are invoking the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to disapprove the rule. Under the CRA, Congress can review and disapprove of finalized agency rules, and there have been several CRAs passed by one or both chambers of Congress over the past few years. CRA resolutions are privileged, which means they bypass normal debate rules in the Senate and are subject to a simple majority vote, but they also must be signed by the President – so most CRA resolutions, despite being passed by a Congressional majority, are vulnerable to a veto. 

As we've written about before, the EPA's emissions rule would functionally increase the revenue reduction from tax credits for electric vehicles put in place by the Inflation Reduction Act because more people would use those tax credits than without the rule while also reducing gas tax revenue. We estimate the additional revenue loss would be roughly $150 billion over a decade under the final rule.