Providing Congressional Disapproval of the Rule Submitted By the Environmental Protection Agency Relating to ``California State Motor Vehicle and Engine Pollution Control Standards; Heavy-Duty Vehicle and Engine Emission Warranty and Maintenance Provisions; Advanced Clean Trucks; Zero Emission Airport Shuttle; Zero-Emission Power Train Certification; Waiver of Preemption; Notice of Decision''

Floor Speech

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Mr. LICCARDO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition to H.J. Res. 87, H.J. Res. 88, and H.J. Res. 89.

Mr. Speaker, I wish I was here to speak about different policies, policies that the American people actually want to see to help them pay their bills and to lower the cost of living that is choking millions of American families.

Instead, in this administration's first 100 days, I have seen this Republican majority capitulate to the largest sales tax in U.S. history in the form of Trump tariffs, costing the average American family perhaps $4,900 annually at the checkout counter. I have seen this Republican Congress authorize the imposition of even more excessive overdraft fees which will cost American consumers another $5 billion.

Where is the action to help Americans pay their bills? Mr. Speaker, you won't find it in any of these three measures. Instead, my Republican colleagues seek to undermine waivers from Federal regulations that California and 13 other States have relied upon for half a century to protect our clean air.

This waiver has done much to clear the once smoggy air of the Golden State, and eliminating these standards will result in the release of 1.6 billion metric tons of pollutants into the air. That pollution will imperil our children, our seniors, and the tens of millions who suffer with respiratory illness like asthma and COPD.

As if the harm to our health and environment isn't enough, the GOP proposals in each of these three measures will cost American citizens even more in their pocketbooks. Over the next 15 years, eliminating these fuel standards will increase Americans' spending at the gas pump by $89 billion. Even if it is adjusted for different vehicle purchase costs, Americans will pay $55 billion more out of pocket because of these efforts to make our cars and trucks less fuel efficient.

Indeed, it will also cost us in higher medical bills. The waiver for the Advanced Clean Cars II rule will save Californians some $13 billion in spending on healthcare for respiratory ailments.

The health and cost benefits are even greater under the heavy-duty truck regulations. In the heavy- and medium-duty truck sector, we are seeing zero-emission and low-emission trucks that are 2 years ahead of schedule in sales set by California requirements.

To my friends on the other side of the aisle, the global industry and the market have left them behind. House Republicans have no agenda to lower the costs for the American people. They are attacking California by putting on this political Kabuki show for political benefit.

Let's talk about California. Despite our many faults, my State has used this waiver and these clean air standards to clear skies that were once filled with smog when I grew up there in the 1970s and in building the world's fourth largest economy. It is larger than Japan, India, the U.K., and, yes, even Texas.

Madam Speaker, I am not entertained by this Kabuki, and the American people aren't either. Do you know what would entertain them? If we actually did something to lower their costs.

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