In a bipartisan vote, the Senate slapped down the overreach of the Biden administration when it comes to tracking car emissions and making as many people as possible “go green.”

The Biden administration has not been shy about their environmental goals. As we have seen from their comments about climate change being “an existential threat,” Pete Buttigieg openly refusing to understand why people won’t buy electric cars, and the administration announcing emissions rules that states would be forced to implement. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) set their bureaucratic rules for the entire thing last November.

But the Senate finally remembered that they have the ability to, uh, LEGISLATE. And so they did, with a close vote that gained bipartisan support.

The Senate on Wednesday afternoon voted in favor of passing a bill reversing the Biden administration’s actions mandating states to track and set reduction goals for greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles on highways.

The chamber approved the resolution in a 53-47 vote in which Sens. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz.; Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio; Jon Tester, D-Mont.; and Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., joined every Republican voting in the affirmative. The bill was introduced in February by Sens. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D.; Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va.; and Manchin.

“Few things are more frustrating in government than un-elected bureaucrats asserting authority they don’t have and foisting federal mediocrity on the excellence of states,” Cramer said in floor remarks earlier Wednesday.

“The Senate will take up my bipartisan resolution that overturns the Biden administration’s obviously illegal rule that requires state departments of transportation to measure CO2 tailpipe emissions then set declining targets for vehicles traveling on the highway systems of their respective states,” he continued.

…Cramer and other lawmakers argued the FHWA overstepped its congressional authority in issuing the regulations, which essentially impose performance measures on state departments of transportation and metropolitan planning organizations. Cramer blasted the FHWA for justifying the rules by saying Congress did not explicitly bar the action.

“The Biden administration should have never introduced this rule. But now we, the policymaking branch of government, must end it,” the North Dakota Republican said.

Take a look at the four Democrats who crossed the aisle to join all the Republicans. Two of them – Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin – are not running for re-election. Sinema has dropped out of her race, and while Manchin is not running, he clearly still wants to have a political future and use West Virginia as his base for it, as you can tell from his remarks.

WATCH: The @USDOTFHWA's emissions rule is an unworkable, one-size-fits-all approach that would burden states with setting & enforcing declining emissions standards for travel on highways. That's why I spoke on the Senate floor today in support of nullifying this rule. pic.twitter.com/Ch1beLID2X

— Senator Joe Manchin (@Sen_JoeManchin) April 10, 2024

The other two Democrats who voted to reverse the emissions rule are Sherrod Brown and Jon Tester. Both are Democrats from red states. Both are desperately trying to win re-election to the Senate. Brown is currently the only statewide elected Democrat in Ohio. Tester is statistically tied with his Republican challenger. They both made the decision to cross the aisle in order to support this bill. I wonder why?

As one can guess, the Biden administration is not pleased with this turn of events, and has threatened to veto the bill.

Following the Senate vote, the bill now faces a vote in the House, where a companion bill was introduced by Rep. Rick Crawford, R-Ark., and Transportation Committee Chairman Sam Graves, R-Mo. However, the White House issued a statement ahead of the vote Wednesday saying Biden would veto the bill if passed.

The passage of the resolution also comes shortly after two federal courts ruled in favor of a coalition of more than 20 states and industry groups, and struck down the FHWA regulations.

Those federal courts – one in Texas, and one in Kentucky – both ruled that the FHWA overreached their authority to impose this rule. Even if Biden ends up vetoing the bill, the courts may end up tossing the entire rule as it moves up the ladder. The Supreme Court is on the verge of either substantially altering or overturning Chevron deference – “that courts should defer to an agency’s reasonable interpretation of an ambiguous statute.” If Chevron is tossed by SCOTUS, and courts need to rely on statutes from legislation, rather than the bureaucracy’s interpretation of the statute – then not only will rules like this one from the FHWA lose authority, but Congress will have to actually pass legislation that lays out what the laws say.

As far as the Biden administration’s goal of “net zero emissions by 2050” by “decarbonizing” transportation – it’s not possible. It might never BE possible. Right now, electric cars are definitely a luxury item that is only practical in a high-density area with charging stations available. Senator Manchin is correct that in rural areas, right now, it’s not possible. There is no way that truckers can do their job and transport goods across state lines in electric vehicles. No one even wants to RENT electric vehicles. Neither the American people or the electrical grid is ready for what Joe Biden wants. But why does he care? By the time his “target date” of 2050 rolls around, he will be long gone.

Featured photo via Joenomias on Pixabay, cropped, Pixabay license