The House handed laws Tuesday to roll again an Environmental Protection Agency rule to slash emissions for heavy-duty vehicles and semis, sending the GOP-led measure to President Biden’s desk for what is anticipated to be his fourth veto.
The invoice handed 221-203 within the Republican-controlled chamber, with 4 Democrats voting to buck Mr. Biden: Reps. Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez of Texas, Jared Golden of Maine and Mary Peltola of Alaska. One Republican — co-chair of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania — voted no.
The measure narrowly cleared the Democratic-led Senate final month with the assistance of 1 Democrat — Sen. Joe Manchin III of West Virginia — after GOP senators pressured a vote underneath what is named the Congressional Review Act.
The laws’s passage by Congress marked the most recent bipartisan blow to Mr. Biden’s regulatory agenda, notably because it pertains to local weather change insurance policies.
Mr. Biden has vowed to veto the measure, which seeks to scuttle a current EPA rule to chop nitrogen oxide emissions in half by 2045 from new semis and different heavy-duty vehicles and pickups as a part of a “Clean Trucks Plan” that the company expects to value between $2,500-$8,300 per automobile.
The American Truck Dealers Association estimates it may value much more for semi-trucks, doubtlessly elevating the worth by $42,000 per automobile and inflicting the costs of on a regular basis items additionally to rise.
“Truckers care about clean air as much as anyone else, but are also on the front lines of the supply chain with over 70% of America’s freight relying exclusively on trucking,” mentioned Todd Spencer, president of the commerce group Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association. “Mandating equipment that has historically led to major engine reliability issues under an unrealistic timeline will have devastating effects on the reliability of America’s supply chain and ultimately on the cost and availability of consumer goods.”
The EPA touts the rule’s potential well being advantages, estimating by 2045 it would stop as much as 2,900 annual untimely deaths, save a couple of million misplaced college days and generate practically $30 billion in annual advantages.
“Heavy-duty vehicles and engines contribute to pollutants that threaten public health,” the White House Office of Management and Budget mentioned in its veto menace. “Over time, the final rule will prevent hundreds of premature deaths, thousands of childhood asthma cases, and millions of lost school-days every year for the tens of millions of Americans who live, work, and go to school near roadways with high truck volume including truck freight routes.”
Mr. Biden’s veto would mark his fourth. The different three got here earlier this yr towards measures to scuttle a Labor Department rule permitting company 401(okay) plan fiduciaries to have interaction in environmental and socially aware investing referred to as ESG; an EPA rule increasing the federal authorities’s authority to guard small waterways like streams and wetlands; and reimpose tariffs quickly suspended by Mr. Biden on China-allied Southeast Asian photo voltaic panel producers.
A two-thirds majority might be wanted to override Mr. Biden’s veto, which Congress has thus far been unable to muster with any of his vetoes.
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