Senate votes to block California’s rule banning the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035

WASHINGTON — The Senate voted on Thursday to block California’s first-in-the nation rule banning the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035, moving to kill the country’s most aggressive effort to transition toward electric vehicles as President Donald Trump’s administration has doubled down on fossil fuels.

The measure overturning the rule now goes to the White House, where Trump is expected to sign it, along with a second one to block rules curbing tailpipe emissions from medium and heavy-duty vehicles. The Senate was also poised to pass a third measure later Thursday to overturn rules on smog-forming nitrogen oxide pollution from trucks. All three were approved by the House earlier this month.

The GOP effort, which comes after Senate Republicans established a new exception to the filibuster, could have a profound impact on California’s longtime efforts to curb air pollution. California makes up roughly 11% of the U.S. car market, giving it significant power to shape purchasing trends, especially because about a dozen states follow California’s lead. Vehicles are one of the largest sources of planet-warming emissions.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, and state air regulators say that what Congress is doing is illegal and they will likely sue to keep the rules in place. Senate Democrats charged that Republicans are acting at the behest of the oil and gas industry and they say California should be able to set its own standards after obtaining waivers from the Environmental Protection Agency.

Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said the votes should “send a chill down the spine of legislators in every state.”

“What we have at stake is also a state’s ability, it’s right to make its own laws and to protect its own citizens, without having this body overturn that right,” Schiff said.

Republicans say the phaseout of gas-powered cars, along with other waivers that California has obtained from the EPA, is costly for consumers and manufacturers, puts pressure on the nation’s energy grid and has become a de facto nationwide electric vehicle mandate.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said ahead of the votes that the waivers would “end up not just affecting the state of California, but the whole country,” especially as around a dozen states have already followed California’s lead.

Newsom, a Democrat, announced plans in 2020 to ban the sale of all new gas-powered vehicles within 15 years as part of an aggressive effort to lower…