Senate votes to overturn Biden highway emissions rule, with support from red-state Democrats

The Senate on Wednesday voted to overturn a Biden administration rule regulating greenhouse gas emissions on the federal highway system, with three red state Democrats joining every Republican.

The rule would require local and state transit officials to set emissions limits. It does not impose specific limits for those officials to set. Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Jon Tester (D-Mt.), as well as Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Az.), were among the 53 votes for the Wednesday Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution. The CRA allows a simple majority of both chambers of Congress to vote down a federal rule.

The White House said President Biden will veto the measure should it pass the House and reach his desk.

The Senate vote comes less than two weeks after Judge James Hendrix, a Trump appointee, struck down the rule, agreeing with a coalition of Republican attorneys general that it was beyond the scope of federal oversight of the highway system.

Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), who co-sponsored the resolution, specifically cited Hendrix’s ruling in a statement Wednesday. Cramer, Manchin and Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.V.) earlier introduced an amendment to a must-pass appropriations bill defunding the rule, which failed to clear a 60-vote threshold.

While neither Sinema nor Manchin are seeking re-election, both Brown and Tester face grueling re-election fights in November in states where former President Trump is heavily favored. The two have voted for multiple CRA resolutions targeting Biden administration environmental rules, including one last May to end a pause on tariffs on solar panel components.

Transportation is the single largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, which the Biden administration has pledged to reduce to net zero by 2050. Conservation group Evergreen Action blasted the vote in a statement Wednesday.

“If this measure is overturned, we would lose an essential transparency standard to track dangerous climate pollution and a vital tool to hold states accountable for spending tax-payer dollars in ways that accelerate the climate crisis,” Evergreen Action State Program Director Justin Balik said in a statement.