'Atrocious': Watchdogs panic that GOP plans 'nuclear option' for corporate giveaways

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Raw Story

May 9, 2025 12:14PM ET


Government watchdogs and Democratic lawmakers are sounding alarm over a Senate GOP plan to overrule the chamber's parliamentarian and repeal federal waivers that have allowed California to enact stricter pollution standards. But critics warned that the implications of the Republican plan, which the party's leadership is still discussing, are far-reaching and could enable the GOP to advance other unpopular elements of their pro-corporate, far-right agenda.

"If senators are willing to overrule the Senate parliamentarian and circumvent Senate rules on the filibuster for the Congressional Review Act, there is nothing to stop them from going nuclear over and over with policies that would harm Americans and destabilize our democracy," said Lisa Gilbert, co-president of the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, on Thursday. "This could happen with other CRA proposals or in the reconciliation process."

The CRA allows lawmakers to review and —with the support of a simple majority in both chambers of Congress — overturn federal rules within a limited timeframe. CRA resolutions of disapproval are not subject to the Senate's 60-vote filibuster, a relic of the Jim Crow era that Republicans have selectively defended or scrapped depending on whether they're in the majority.

Republicans want to use the filibuster-proof CRA to block California's Clean Air Act waivers, but the Senate parliamentarian—the chamber's unelected arbiter of Senate rules and procedures—has said the waivers don't qualify as rules subject to the CRA.

Read more: https://www.rawstory.com/senate-filibuster-2671924582/

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California's special "waiver" is NOT a "Rule" that was drafted and published in the Federal Register as a "regulation" by the Executive Branch but was a provision option in the Clean Air Act itself. It could be rescinded but would have to go through the regular process in Congress.