Biden vetoes legislation rolling back EPA emissions standards

President Joe Biden on Wednesday vetoed SJ Res. 11, a Republican-backed bill that would’ve rolled back a 2022 EPA rule that set stronger vehicle emissions standards to reduce air pollution set to take effect in model year 2027.

“Earlier today, President Biden vetoed SJ Resolution 11, the most recent attempt by congressional Republicans to pollute the air our children breathe,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters during a White House press briefing.

“Just think about it – while millions of Americans were taking shelter to escape unhealthy wildfire smoke made worse by climate change, congressional Republicans were pushing a bill to repeal the president’s efforts to make our air cleaner and safer.”

The final rule, which was adopted by the Environmental Protection Agency in December, sets “new emission standards that are significantly more stringent and that cover a wider range of heavy-duty engine operating conditions compared to today’s standards,” according to the EPA, which said the change is needed because emissions from those trucks are “important contributors to concentrations of ozone and particulate matter and their resulting threat to public health.”

Republicans were able to pass the measure through the Senate with the help of Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin; California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein did not vote on the legislation. The House passed it about a month later in May.

A veto override would require a two-thirds vote in both chambers, a high threshold not expected to be reached.

Republicans criticize the emissions rule as overly burdensome, arguing it will hurt the trucking industry and have negative ripple effects through the economy. Democrats say the rule is needed to limit pollution and improve air quality across the US.

In a statement announcing the veto Wednesday, Biden wrote the EPA rule “cuts pollution, boosts public health, and advances environmental justice in communities across the country,” adding “It will prevent hundreds, if not thousands, of premature deaths; thousands of childhood asthma cases; and millions of missed school days every year.” Biden also tweeted a photo of him vetoing the bill from the Oval Office earlier Wednesday.

“President Biden won’t let congressional Republicans take us backwards in our fight for cleaner air – he vetoed this health-harming bill today, as I just mentioned,” Jean-Pierre said Wednesday, pointing to additional steps Biden has taken since taking office to protect the environment, including provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act to curb climate change.

The veto is the sixth of Biden’s presidency.

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House fails to override Biden veto on DC accountability bill

The House on Tuesday failed to override President Biden’s veto of a resolution that would block Washington, D.C.’s police accountability bill from taking effect.

The chamber voted 233-197 to override Biden’s veto, which was short of the two-thirds support needed. Thirteen Democrats voted with Republicans in support of the veto override: Reps. Nikki Budzinski (Ill.), Angie Craig (Minn.), Henry Cuellar (Texas), Don Davis (N.C.), Jared Golden (Maine), Susie Lee (Nevada), Wiley Nickel (N.C.), Jimmy Panetta (Calif.), Chris Pappas (N.H.), Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (Wash.), Pat Ryan (N.Y.), Kim Schrier (Wash.) and Eric Sorensen (Ill.).

The House OK’d the disapproval resolution in April and the Senate followed suit in May, leading Biden to veto the measure on May 25, as the White House said he would.

House Republicans have introduced a number of disapproval resolutions taking aim at D.C. policy since transition into the majority. They saw success with the effort in March when the president signed a disapproval resolution overturning D.C.’s crime bill after the White House initially said it was opposed to it — a move that drew ire from several Democrats.

Republicans have specifically zeroed in on crime-related policies in an effort to put a spotlight on a hot-button issue that resonated with voters during the 2022 midterm elections. It also forces lawmakers to go on the record on the matter.

The D.C. measure in Tuesday’s resolution — a police accountability bill titled the Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform Amendment Act — would permanently enact some reforms that the District put in place temporarily after George Floyd was killed in 2020. The measure, for example, limits police searches based on receiving consent instead of a warrant, restricts the use of nonlethal weapons when trying to mitigate riots, adds civilians to disciplinary review boards, and cements a requirement that videos captured on body cameras are released publicly in the cases of police-involved shootings.

The legislation passed through the D.C. Council in December, but Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) did not sign or veto the measure. In Washington, D.C., legislation can be enacted even if it is not signed by the mayor.

Bowser and D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) penned a letter to leaders of the House and Senate in March opposing the push by GOP lawmakers to block the District’s policing bill.

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) on Tuesday called the disapproval resolution “profoundly undemocratic.”