Republican Attack on States’ Rights is Absolutely Absurd

For years, Republicans were huge proponents of states’ rights. This was a core element of their political agenda. The federal government was not supposed to have so much power, and more power should be in the hands of state governments. Republicans are now in charge of Congress and the White House, so … so much for that!!

It’s not just a matter of going against what they supported before either. They’ve gone to the extreme and usurped state rights that have been in place for decades and were never really even considered for federal takeover until the last Trump presidency. It is, to be frank, absolutely absurd.

Furthermore, Republicans have gone around normal procedures and overridden the perspectives of their own experts on this.

Here’s the deal in clear, simple, chronological order:

• California Air Resources Board (CARB) was established in 1967, under Governor Ronald Reagan, in order to get air pollution under control.
• “[W]hen it amended the Clean Air Act in 1977, Congress also expressly retained and strengthened California’s inherent authority, recognizing its value as a laboratory to help innovate ways to reduce motor vehicle pollution. [Clean Air Act, Section 209.] With the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments, Congress even further expanded the scope of the California waiver to cover off-road or non-road engines,” CARB writes.
• In 2019, Donald Trump and his administration sued to remove California’s waiver regarding vehicle emissions. CARB responded with the following points, among several others: “The U.S. EPA has granted California waivers for its clean air and climate program for decades based on its long-standing determination that:

1. 1. California’s standards are at least as protective as federal standards, and that the state’s determination of that fact was not arbitrary and capricious;
   2. California’s standards are needed to meet compelling and extraordinary conditions.
   3. California’s standards are not inconsistent with certain Clean Air Act provisions related to technical feasibility and lead time to manufacturers.[…]

      No waiver has ever been revoked and the one previous denial was quickly reversed. There is no Clean Air Act process for revoking a waiver – which makes sense because governments and industry rely on waivers for years after they are granted to deliver clean vehicles and develop clean air plans. Even waiver denial is incredibly rare. The one time this occurred, in 2008, the U.S. EPA initially denied California’s waiver for GHG emission standards for 2009 and later model year light-duty motor vehicles. That denial was reversed when the U.S. EPA reconsidered it, and ultimately granted it.

      […]

      The federal government also makes the bizarre argument that a federal fuel economy statute (EPCA) somehow blocks California’s program – even though that program has been operating alongside California’s for decades with no problems. Again, neither the facts nor the law provides NHTSA with the authority to unilaterally void California’s authority under the Clean Air Act. “

• When Joe Biden became president, he granted the waiver again to close out the topic.
• Now, with Donald Trump in the White House again and Republicans in control of Congress, “The Senate has overruled the guidance of the parliamentarian, a nonpartisan staffer who interprets the Senate’s rules, and voted 51 to 44 to overturn a waiver allowing California to set its own air pollution standards for cars that are stricter than national regulations,” NPR writes. “The Senate has only overruled its parliamentarian a handful of times in the 90-year history of the role.” How absurd is this!
• “Congress is using a law called the Congressional Review Act, or CRA, as a mechanism to revoke the federal waivers that allowed California to set these rules. The House previously approved three resolutions to revoke the waivers. But there are significant questions about whether this use of the CRA is legal; the Government Accountability Office and the Senate parliamentarian, who serve as referees within the federal government, both determined that it is not.”

What kind of craziness is this? Republicans breaking norms, not following rules, and engaging in unprecedented federal overreach in order to … stop California from protecting clean air and the climate for its residents? Republicans trying to take away powers given to California by Ronald Reagan when he was governor of the state?

It’s absurd. It’s all absurd. But what’s new in the age of Trump, a multi-decade con man and fraudster being elected as president of the United States … twice … including after he tried to overthrow US democracy and not peacefully pass on the power of the presidency.

Absurd times. Absurd attacks on states’ rights. Absurd people in control of the United States.

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