Senate Approves Capito, Cramer Effort to Overturn Federal Highway Administration’s Illegal Emissions Mandate on State DOTs

Click here for Ranking Member Capito’s floor remarks prior to today’s vote on Senator Cramer’s resolution of disapproval.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the U.S. Senate passed a measure co-sponsored by Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Ranking Member of the Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, and sponsored by Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Ranking Member of EPW’s Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee, to overturn the Biden administration’s illegal greenhouse emissions performance measure final rule being imposed on state departments of transportation (DOTs) and metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs). The Senate approved the Congressional Review Act (CRA) joint resolution of disapproval by a vote of 53-47.

In 2023, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) issued a rule mandating that state 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. Cramer and Capito introduced the CRA resolution in February of this year. This year, two federal district courts also ruled that the performance measure was not authorized by law.

“Today, the Senate rejected the Biden administration’s attempt to ignore the letter of the bipartisan infrastructure law and impose its extreme climate agenda on states across the country,” Ranking Member Capito said. “Beyond the economic harm a greenhouse gas emissions requirement would cause, the main problem with the FHWA issuing this regulation is it simply lacks the authority to do so. I’m glad a bipartisan group of colleagues joined us in sending a clear message to the administration that we will continue to hold them accountable for executive overreach.”

A companion version of the resolution of disapproval was introduced in the House of Representatives in February, 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 their 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 DOTs and MPOs.

The resolution of disapproval text can be accessed here.

A letter for support for the resolution from stakeholders can be accessed here.

Capito’s floor remarks prior to the vote can be viewed here.
 

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