Alex Padilla U.S. Senator for California

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, in response to the Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) finding that Clean Air Act waivers to California are not subject to the Congressional Review Act, U.S. Senators Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), members of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, issued the following joint statement:

“By ignoring decades of precedent and the plain text of the Congressional Review Act, the Trump EPA is attempting to sell out our nation’s public health and environmental protections to the same polluting industries that bankrolled much of Trump’s campaign. Congress put in place California’s ability to set vehicle emissions standards in the Clean Air Act, and California emission standards have protected generations of Americans against fossil fuel emissions that poison our air and heat our planet. President Trump and Administrator Zeldin’s weaponization of the EPA in service of the polluters the agency is tasked with policing directly attacks our nation’s ability to breathe clean air and reduce the planet-warming carbon pollution that is fueling extreme weather. 

“GAO’s views on what agency actions are subject to the Congressional Review Act have historically carried great weight, and we thank the agency for its attention to this matter.” 

Yesterday, Senator Padilla questioned nominees for senior posts at the Environmental Protection Agency on California’s Clean Air Act waivers, stressing that they do not fall under the purview of the Congressional Review Act.

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