Published on September 24, 2024, 12:34 am

Breaking in from the trusted news bureau, in a decisive move against the Biden-Harris administration’s unofficial electric vehicle mandate, the House of Representatives successfully passed H.J. Res. 136 on Friday with a majority vote of 215 to 191. Should this bill navigate through the Senate successfully and obtain President Joe Biden’s approval, it will effectively overturn the Environment Protection Agency’s (EPA) standards for light-duty vehicle emissions.

The real news emerging here comprises an unusual switch in voting allegiances. Eight Democrats sided with Republicans by voting for this bill in defiance against their own party leadership. These included representatives Yadira Caraveo from Colorado, Henry Cuellar from Texas, Don Davis from North Carolina, Jared Golden from Maine, Vicente Gonzalez from Texas, Marcy Kaptur from Ohio, Mary Peltola from Alaska, and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington.

Interestingly enough though, Democratic Representatives Elissa Slotkin from Michigan and Colin Allred of Texas – both running for U.S. Senate seats – cast their votes in favor of preserving the EPA’s tailpipe emission rules.

The rules set forth by EPA require automakers to ensure that 56% of their new vehicle sales by 2032 are electric vehicles (EVs), supplemented by an additional 13% sales comprising plug-in hybrids. Critics view this as effectively forcing automakers to substantially increase EV production over the coming decade—a rule that many deem an implicit EV mandate. Meanwhile, the Biden-Harris administration refutes such claims stating these regulations do not amount to mandatory EV production.

Critics contend that EPA is violating its regulatory boundaries established by Congress through these recent rules on vehicular emissions’ control. Over two dozen energy-focused advocacy organizations alerted lawmakers about this issue just before Thursday’s vote.

Despite allocating billions towards encouraging all-electric model production and consumption along with aggressive regulation attempts, consumer response towards transitioning entirely to EVs remains lukewarm. Auto manufacturers, finding themselves incurring heavy expenses on their EV lines, are seen to retreat from fulfilling some of their short-term production targets.

The overarching plan of the Biden-Harris administration is to eventually see EVs comprise 50% of all new car sales by 2030 as part of its wider climate change agenda.

For comments on this issue, requests have been dispatched to both the EPA and the White House. However, as of now, there has been no immediate response from either camp.

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