Senate Votes to Overturn Biden Admin’s Truck Emissions Rule, With Support From Manchin

Senate Passes Resolution to Overturn Biden’s Emissions Rule

The Senate has made a bold move by passing a resolution to overturn President Joe Biden’s heavy-duty engines emissions rule. This comes after Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) broke ranks with his fellow Democrats and joined Republicans in opposition to the emissions rule.

In December, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the new “Control of Air Pollution From New Motor Vehicles: Heavy-Duty Engine and Vehicle Standards,” which placed more stringent emissions standards over a “wider range of heavy-duty engine operating conditions.” The new rule was set to go into effect in March, but Republicans have been preparing to oppose the regulations through a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution introduced by Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.).

Fischer’s joint resolution passed in the Senate by a vote of 50–49. Just hours before the vote, Manchin announced that he would back the Republicans-led resolution to overturn the EPA rule.

“The last couple of years have shown that truck drivers keep our country moving. However, the Biden Administration wants to burden the trucking industry with oppressive regulations that will increase prices by thousands of dollars and push truck drivers and small trucking companies out of business,” said Manchin, a moderate Democrat who has repeatedly been at odds with Biden-era environmental policies.

The resolution now moves on to the Republican-controlled House of Representatives. Even if the House also passes the resolution, Biden could veto the bill. It is less likely then, that both the House and the Senate would be able to garner enough support to override Biden’s veto.

EPA Says Rule Would Save Lives

The EPA has justified the new engine regulations, arguing that they will reduce emissions from nitrogen oxides, resulting in improved health conditions for people living in the United States.

The agency estimated that there would be between 860 and 2,900 fewer premature deaths annually by 2045 as a result of a reduction in harmful emissions from heavy-duty engines. The agency also estimated there would be 6,700 fewer hospital admissions and emergency department visits annually and 18,000 fewer cases of childhood asthma each year by 2045.

Fischer has argued that the regulations would actually achieve the opposite of the EPA’s intended effect, because the rule only applies to new heavy-duty highway engines and thus “incentivizes operators to keep using older, higher-emitting trucks for longer.” That assessment was echoed by Todd Spencer, who serves as the president of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association.

“If small business truckers can’t afford the new, compliant trucks, they’re going to stay with older, less efficient trucks, or leave the industry entirely,” Spencer said in a press statement on Wednesday. “Once again, the government is putting the interests of big corporations ahead of small businesses and the American people.”

Takeaways:

• The Senate passed a resolution to overturn Biden’s heavy-duty engines emissions rule.
• Senator Joe Manchin broke ranks with his fellow Democrats and joined Republicans in opposition to the emissions rule.
• The EPA has justified the new engine regulations, arguing that they will reduce emissions from nitrogen oxides, resulting in improved health conditions for people living in the United States.
• The resolution now moves on to the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.
• The regulations would actually achieve the opposite of the EPA’s intended effect, according to Fischer and Todd Spencer.

It remains to be seen what the future holds for Biden’s emissions rule, but one thing is for sure: this is a contentious issue that will continue to be debated for some time to come.