Republican leaders of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on Tuesday praised the Trump administration for taking steps to rescind a Biden-era greenhouse gas emissions rule, calling it an overreach of federal authority.
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) finalized the rule in November 2023, requiring state transportation departments and metropolitan planning organizations to track and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The measure was challenged in court by 21 states, led by Kentucky, and separately by Texas. Two courts ruled the regulation exceeded the administration’s authority, with one court vacating the rule.
The Biden administration had appealed the rulings to the 5th and 6th U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals. However, the Trump administration has dropped both appeals and announced plans to formally rescind the regulation. The Department of Transportation recently submitted a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to eliminate the measure.
“I commend the Trump administration for withdrawing from both of these cases to correct this blatant overreach of the Biden administration,” said House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Sam Graves, R-Mo. “Congress clearly rejected the inclusion of a GHG performance measure requirement when the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act was being developed, but the previous administration ignored this fact and still sought to impose its overreaching GHG regulation on the whole country.”
Republicans praise move
House Republicans, including former Highways and Transit Subcommittee Chairman Rick Crawford, R-Ark., and Senate Republicans, including Senate Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee Chairman Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., and Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., have opposed the rule since its introduction.
“The GHG rule from the Federal Highway Administration was a ridiculous overreach of FHWA authority,” Crawford said. “The Biden administration FHWA blatantly ignored the law when it developed this rule for purely political purposes.”
Highways and Transit Subcommittee Chairman David Rouzer, R-N.C., also applauded the Trump administration’s move.
“The Biden administration’s greenhouse gas emissions performance standards were a clear example of federal overreach,” Rouzer said. “The Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, through the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit, will work with the Trump administration to further roll back restrictive Green New Deal policies and focus instead on proven infrastructure and market-driven technologies to strengthen the American economy.”
The FHWA has not yet commented on the Trump administration’s decision to rescind the rule.
