President Trump blocks California's ban on the sale of gas powered cars
WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) – President Donald Trump signed a resolution Thursday ending a federal exemption that lets California ban the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035, calling it 'common sense.'
'It's been a disaster for this country,' President Trump said.
The president and Republican lawmakers say the policy limits consumer choice when buying a car, since more than a dozen states have adopted California's standards.
'This is going to be a great moment for our state,' Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.) said.
California Republican Congressman Kevin Kiley sponsored the legislation under the Congressional Review Act, which lets lawmakers overturn certain federal agency actions.
'We are once again, as Californians, going to have the right to drive a car of our choice rather than one that's been chosen for them by the government,' Kiley said.
Democrats say California's policies protect public health, and the state should be allowed to set its own standards, citing a history of pollution.
'In the 1960s, I was playing football at the University of California Berkley, and there were days in the fall where we could not practice because the air quality was so bad,' Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.) said.
California Democratic Congressman John Garamendi says that's not the case anymore because of exemptions granted to the Golden State.
He says this is about more than air pollution to the president.
'He's at war with California,' Garamendi said.
Democrats also objected to how the legislation passed in the Senate last month. Republicans overruled the Senate Parliamentarian, who said the Congressional Review Act could not be used in this case.
'That is a crummy way to go about doing business,' Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) said during Senate debate late May.
Other resolutions the president signed Thursday overrule California policies limiting tailpipe emissions in certain vehicles and smog-forming pollution from trucks.
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