Republican lawmakers have been pushing for Congressional Review Act votes, which, if successful, allow members of Congress to strike down regulations issued by federal agencies. Now, GOP lawmakers don’t want to put up the votes for fear that vulnerable Senate Democrats may be using them to criticize Biden’s policies from the right in races in which the president or his policies may be unpopular. 

Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) told Axios they were “not actually getting anything done” with the votes but instead were creating a situation in which Democrats “can send a message that they’re pretending to back home.” 

To Republicans, these votes give vulnerable Senate Democrats a chance to signal to their constituents that they don’t simply approve all of Biden’s policies just because they are in the same party. Only 30 senators are required to sign on to a petition to force a vote on a Congressional Review Act.

Lankford said one of his Congressional Review Act resolutions, which focused on Biden’s policy on nursing homes, hasn’t gotten a vote partly because it is viewed as an easy way for vulnerable Democrats to distance themselves from Biden.

Sens. Jon Tester (D-MT) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH), two of the most vulnerable Democratic senators up for reelection, have used Congressional Review Act votes to distance themselves from Biden’s policies on energy and the environment.

Both Tester and Brown voted in favor of a Congressional Review Act that would have overturned a rule from the Biden administration on measuring and setting greenhouse gas emission standards. In March, the Senate overturned a rule from the Department of Agriculture that would end a ban on beef imports from Paraguay through a Congressional Review Act, which Tester voted in favor of.