Step aside, Joe Manchin. Republicans may have found a new Democratic ally in Congress to help them derail President Joe Biden’s climate agenda. Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania said he would consider voting with his GOP colleagues to overturn the Biden administration’s latest climate rule for cars and trucks, writes Emma Dumain. “I just know it’s part of a conversation that we need to have,” Fetterman told Emma when she asked if he supported rolling back the rule. “We need to respond to what seems to be the American consumer sentiment, what seems to be a diminished kind of enthusiasm, for EVs.” While electric vehicles account for a mere 9 percent of new car sales (increasing to 16 percent when including hybrids and plug-in hybrids), that number has nearly quintupled in the last five years. And last year saw record growth, with drivers buying more than 1 million EVs. Biden’s new rule, which the Environmental Protection Agency unveiled Wednesday, sets strict pollution limits for cars and trucks in an effort to further spur electric vehicle adoption — though the policy does not mandate what kind of models manufacturers make. Car companies can hit their target pollution reduction mandate with a combination of all-electric vehicles, hybrid models and more efficient gasoline-powered engines. Still, Fetterman said EPA’s final regulation “seems aggressive.” Fetterman has been increasingly critical of the Biden administration’s environmental agenda. Last month, he suggested the administration reconsider its pause of liquefied natural gas export approvals. And on Monday, he applauded a Washington Post op-ed from Manchin advocating for the country to increase oil and gas production (and congratulating U.S. companies for producing more crude oil than any nation at any time in history last year). Democrats can afford to lose only one vote if Republican lawmakers follow through with their effort to repeal Biden’s climate rule using a Congressional Review Act resolution — although, of course, Biden would be sure to veto the move. The procedural maneuver guarantees consideration on the floor even in a Democratic-controlled Senate and needs only a simple majority to pass. Democrats may have already lost Manchin, a persistent thorn in the administration’s side. The West Virginia senator expressed his frustration with Biden’s climate rule, saying that “the federal government has no authority and no right to mandate what type of car or truck Americans can purchase.” Manchin is retiring this year, but Fetterman is not. That means if November's election creates a 50-50 Senate, Fetterman may have the power to cause plenty of trouble for Democratic leadership.
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