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The Federal Highway Administration rules were declared unlawful
last month by a federal judge but the decision could be reversed
upon appeal.
President Joe Biden's administration is eager to cut greenhouse
gas emissions to net zero by 2050 in an effort to avoid
potentially catastrophic impacts of climate change.
The Senate voted 53-47 in favor of a resolution that would
reject the rules, with Democrats Sherrod Brown, Jon Tester and
Joe Manchin joining Republicans. The U.S. House of
Representatives has yet to vote on the measure.
The White House said Biden would veto the measure if it is sent
to him, and Republicans would almost certainly be unable to
muster the votes needed to overturn a veto.
The White House noted the transportation sector is the largest
source of greenhouse gas emissions, with most coming from
vehicles on U.S. roads. In a statement opposing the Senate
action, it called the rule "a common-sense, good-government tool
for transparently managing" emissions from transportation.
Republican Senator Shelley Moore Capito said the administration
lacked authority to write the rules and said the vote is "a
clear message to the administration that we will continue to
hold them accountable for executive overreach."
Last month U.S. District Judge James Wesley Hendrix, who was
appointed by former President Donald Trump, said he agreed with
Texas' lawsuit "the rule was unauthorized."
The FHWA has noted it did not mandate how low targets must be
and instead gave state transportation departments flexibility to
set targets that were appropriate as long as the targets aimed
to reduce emissions over time.
The agency said it would assess whether states make significant
progress toward achieving their targets but the rule does not
impose penalties for those who missed their targets.
The FHWA said the rule was "essential" to the Biden
administration target of net-zero emissions economy-wide by
2050. The final regulation did not require states to set
declining targets to align with the 2050 goal.
In 2018, the Trump administration repealed a rule issued under
former President Barack Obama requiring states to track
greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles on the nation's highways.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by David Gregorio)
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