WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Ranking Member of the Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, and Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Ranking Member of EPW’s Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee, led introduction of a Congressional Review Act (CRA) joint resolution of disapproval to overturn the Biden administration’s illegal emissions performance measure being imposed on state departments of transportation (DOTs) and metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs).
In 2023, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) issued a rule mandating that DOTs and MPOs set declining emissions targets, attempting to use authority that was specifically excluded from the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that became law in 2021.
“Once again, the Biden administration is blatantly neglecting the letter of a bipartisan law passed by Congress and signed by the president himself. FHWA’s final rule limits the flexibility of states to advance their own transportation investment priorities, jeopardizing critical investments, jobs, and economic growth across the country. When we negotiated the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, we specifically left out the authority FHWA is attempting to exercise with its greenhouse gas emissions performance measure requirement. As we’ve done before, I am committed to working with my Senate and House colleagues to hold the Biden administration accountable,” Ranking Member Capito said.
““The absence of a prohibition is not a license, and yet the Biden administration pushed this illegal and infeasible regulation anyway. New York and North Dakota have very different transportation systems, needs, and capabilities, but under this one-size-fits-all mandate, they’re effectively treated the same. A subway stop at a cattle ranch is silly and unserious, and so is the idea of widespread EV use in North Dakota. Nearly half the Senate cosponsored this resolution from the onset, showing strong appetite for this rule to be defeated,” Senator Cramer said.
Additional cosponsors include U.S. Senators Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), John Thune (R-S.D.), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Katie Boyd Britt (R-Ala.), John Boozman (R-Ark.), Ted Budd (R-N.C.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Susan Collins (Maine), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.), John Kennedy (R-La.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Roger Marshall (R-KS), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.), Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Mitt Romney (R-Utah), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Tim Scott (R-S.C.), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), and Todd Young (R-Ind.).
A companion version of the resolution of disapproval was simultaneously introduced in the House of Representatives, led by US. Reps. Sam Graves (R-Mo.-06), chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I), and Rick Crawford (R-Ark.-01), chairman of T&I’s Subcommittee on Highways and Transit.
BACKGROUND:
At a hearing in June 2023, Ranking Member Capito outlined major concerns about the proposed rule with FHWA Administrator Shailen Bhatt.
In October 2022, Capito and Cramer led 25 of her colleagues in sending a letter to FHWA Deputy Administrator Stephanie Pollack voicing their strong opposition to the agency’s proposal to implement a GHG emissions performance measure on state departments of transportation and metropolitan planning organizations.
The resolution of disapproval text can be accessed here.
A letter for support for the resolution from stakeholders can be accessed here.
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