The Senate took 10 votes Wednesday to approve procedural changes that allow it to take up three joint resolutions that would vacate EPA waivers allowing California to set its own vehicle emissions standards.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., steered Republicans through party-line votes on a complex set of points of order, motions to table points of order, motions to appeal rulings of the chair, motions to table those motions, and more, all in the service of overcoming a ruling from Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough that agency waivers aren’t rules that can be overturned under the Congressional Review Act.
Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., threw up as many hurdles as he could, slowing the process down and dragging out the voting. Thune eventually limited each vote to 15 minutes.
