Providing Congressional Disapproval Under Chapter 8 of Title United States Code, of the Rule Submitted By the Environmental Protection Agency Relating to ``California State Motor Vehicle and Engine and Nonroad Engine Pollution Control Standards; the `omnibus' Low NoX Regulation; Waiver of Preemption; Notice of Decision''

Floor Speech

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Mr. PADILLA. Mr. President, I know we are working our way through a series of votes. Many people are at lunch or wrapping up lunch. We have a little bit of business still ahead of us, but I want to take a minute just to remind this body what has transpired here over the last 24 hours: evidence again, actions again demonstrating that Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress are stopping at nothing to attack California for the audacity of working to protect the health of Californians and for having the audacity to lead the clean energy economy.

But as I have said repeatedly over the last couple of days, it is not just what Donald Trump's EPA and Senate Republicans are doing that is problematic; it is how they made this possible--by fundamentally changing how the Senate operates through rules changes last night.

Now, it was not a magic trick. Before dinner yesterday, these bills to gut California's Clean Air Act authority were recognized as regular bills, subject to the filibuster rule requiring 60 votes to move forward, open to full debate and amendments, but somehow, after dinnertime yesterday, once Senate Republicans were done with overruling the Parliamentarian, these bills were now not subject to the filibuster.

For the record and for the public's recognition, this is the first time in Senate history that the majority has used a nuclear option to take joint resolutions that were subject to the filibuster one minute and eliminate the filibuster for them the next. You may hear them try to deny it, but it is all on the record.

So let me recap. The Senate Parliamentarian, through the Chair, confirmed that all points of order are waived during a Congressional Review Act resolution. That is in the law. But the majority voted to ignore that provision of the law and raise one anyway.

Then the Senate Parliamentarian, through the Chair, confirmed that these resolutions do not qualify--repeat, do not qualify--for expedited consideration, but the majority voted to override the Parliamentarian again and plow ahead anyway.

But no one should be fooled. What happened on the floor, as witnessed by the public, was nothing short of a power play that fundamentally changed how the Senate works.

Why? What was the driving impetus here? Was it President Trump? Is it the fossil fuel industry and what they want? Or did you happen to just think changing these rules and the way the Senate operates was simply a good idea? I would love to hear you make that case. But I know that one of the results of last night's actions and today's votes is that Californians will be forced to breathe dirtier air than they should have to.

California is being targeted for its leadership--it is that blatant; it is that obvious--because, yes, for over half a century, we have been the innovators and trailblazers in the fight against pollution.

A little bit of a history refresher here. Back in 1966, California established the first tailpipe emission standard for passenger vehicles in the Nation, responding to California's unique air quality needs with policy based on science and data. A year later, California established the California Air Resources Board to more comprehensively address the severe air pollution and its consequences.

Then, some of you may remember a catastrophic oilspill off the coast of Santa Barbara. Californians rose up and demanded stronger environmental protections, and this became the birth of the modern-day environmental movement and eventually the first Earth Day in 1970, which has grown in its recognition and celebration.

That same year, Congress passed the Clean Air Act on an overwhelming bipartisan basis. That original Clean Air Act authorized the waiver provision that allows California to set our own separate and more ambitious vehicle emissions standards.

Fast-forward to the year 2006, when California passed the Global Warming Solutions Act, stating the bold goal of reducing emissions to 1990 levels by the year 2020. It was the first in the world set of goals to establish both the regulatory and market programs to achieve real-world reductions in the greenhouse gas emissions that were causing climate change.

I remember it vividly because that same year, I ran for State senate because I wanted to be part of crafting policies to actually achieve those goals and implementing those policies and programs. I went on to serve for 6 years as chair of the California State Senate Committee on Energy, Utilities and Communications.

Since then, California has continued to lead the Nation with increasingly ambitious goals for cutting emissions.

It is a remarkable history when you stop and think about it and especially when you recognize that it hasn't just been Democrats that have been driving this.

As President, former California Senator Richard Nixon signed into law landmark legislation, including the National Environmental Policy Act, the Clean Air Act of 1970, the Endangered Species Act, and the creation of the EPA.

Yes, folks watching at home, Republicans did that.

As Governor, Ronald Reagan established the California Air Resources Board, committing California to a comprehensive, statewide approach to aggressively address air pollution in California.

A Republican did that.

It was Republican Governor Pete Wilson who established the California EPA.

A Republican did that.

It was Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger who signed the 2006 Global Warming Solutions Act into law.

A Republican did that.

As a result of bipartisan efforts, in 2025, California achieved a diverse portfolio of clean energy resources--think not just conceptual but actually operational solar energy, wind energy, geothermal energy-- all while fostering the fourth largest economy in the world. And we have a plan to decarbonize nearly every sector of our economy, from transportation to electricity, to manufacturing, to agriculture, construction, and buildings.

It is that long-term vision that has diversified our energy sources so that after seasons of extreme weather, we can still take advantage-- more importantly, take advantage--of hydropower opportunity after rainstorms or reap the benefits of expanded wind and solar energy because we have grown our battery storage, technology, performance, and capabilities and capacity.

Now, here is where the rubber meets the road, colleagues. Most of you were not here last night in the wee hours of the morning when I explained that California, at the State and local level, has already done almost all they can to push the most ambitious regulatory agenda in the country to reduce emissions. They have done what they can from what is within their jurisdiction. We are investing in R&D into cleaner locomotives. We are investing in port electrification. We are making breakthroughs in hydrogen marine technologies like the first hydrogen fuel cell ferry in the United States.

But despite all this progress, despite all this innovation, despite all this investment, we are still shy in too many regions of attaining Federal clean air standards. Why? That is a logical question. If California is doing so much, why?

Well, California has done everything it can, but the Federal Government has not. We need the Federal Government to do its part.

Unless or until we have a Federal Government that says we need more ambitious goals and standards for the Nation, then California needs and deserves the ability to lead for itself, to protect Californians. That is why these waivers have been so important, because absent the Federal Government doing its part--and I am not holding my breath for the next 3\1/2\ years waiting for the Trump EPA to do so--California needs the Federal waivers to get the job done.

But I know that even after all this progress, the detractors will fall back on the same tired playbook of excuses. We know that the big oil industry sees California's clean cars and clean truck sales as existential threats. California has made tremendous advancements not just in technology but in markets, but that is why the fossil fuel industry has launched an all-out assault on California's rules.

I will give you just one example. If you happened to be reading the Wall Street Journal this past January, you might have picked up the paper to find an op-ed with the headline ``Biden's EPA Tries to Put One Over With EV Mandate.'' That kind of sounds a little ominous, but if you read who the authors were--the authors went on to complain about how slow and laborious the process is for the EPA to revoke a California waiver administratively. They literally tripped themselves up searching for every possible way to weaponize the Congressional Review Act to take down California's waivers.

Now, who were those authors? The authors were partners at the law firm of Boyden Gray, who represent oil and gas clients and who were in court actively trying to repeal California's waivers. So it makes a whole lot of sense when you realize that they wanted to publish this op-ed by January 8, just 12 days before January 20, when Donald Trump was sworn into his second term.

It is certainly no surprise that a month later, the EPA attempted to submit waivers as rules for congressional review, claiming that the Biden EPA had withheld them. Now, that is a little rich, to accuse the Biden administration of withholding EPA waivers when the first Trump administration did the exact same thing, and so did every other EPA before it, both Republican and Democratic, in its entire 50-plus-year history of the California waiver provision.

In fact, when Donald Trump's EPA did what the Boyden Gray lawyers told them to--submitting these waivers as rules to Congress--they actually still included language admitting that these were waivers and not rules. And when they were called on it, when it was pointed out, they had to go through the motions, do backups, and resubmit the waivers to Congress--ridiculous, blatant.

Now, regardless of how ludicrous this effort has been, we continue to hear all kinds of misinformation from detractors about why California's ambitious goals just won't work. I have a series of them, but I will just focus on the main talking point that I have heard from my Republican colleagues and from industry: that California is somehow coercing other States into adopting California's standards; or to let California do this is the equivalent of setting a national standard; or that these emissions standards become de facto national ones.

That is ridiculous. We have made it clear: Let California take care of Californians. If California had the power, the authority to set those national standards, trust me, we would be doing this and a lot more. But we don't.

But I think the good work that California has done that has benefitted Californians--both our health and our economy, along with our environment--has inspired more than a dozen other States to follow California's lead voluntarily. Nobody is forcing other States--blue States or red States--to follow California's lead, but these other States see the benefits of what California is doing, and they choose to do so to protect their residents and to protect their environment.

Lastly, let me just conclude by stating something that has conveniently been stifled in this whole debate--limited debate--and conversation. So who benefits from all of this? It is not unleashing job creation and innovation in States--the other 49 States--but California. It is holding our Nation back in terms of improving air quality and our transition to a clean energy economy.

The winner here is actually China because, like it or not, the clean energy boom globally is happening. We have a big say in who leads it and who benefits from it.

Is it the United States? Not by the leadership and the policies I have seen of this administration in the near future. It can be California, but it seems like you are more interested in taking our tools away. And so now we risk China jumping ahead, both economically and technologically, in this space.

So I will remind you, folks, despite--not despite but because of California's leaning in on addressing the emissions, pollution, and climate challenges, California has become the fourth largest economy in the world.

We have proven that is what is good for clean air and is good for business and the economy. And that is something that you all ought to replicate and scale up, not fear and stifle. We have to be able to do both--protect our planet, strengthen our economy.

California has shown us the way. We can have reliable cars. Our kids can breathe clean air. We can invest in our economy and in our future.

California has been proud to fill the role of national leader in this space. We will continue to try to do anything and everything we can to do so, both for our interests and for the Nation's, but what has happened in the last 24 hours makes the job that much harder.

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