MAINE MORNING STAR • May 22, 2025
The U.S. Senate voted early Thursday to prevent California from enforcing regulations on tailpipe emission from new cars and trucks, upending state regulations for the nearly 40% of Americans whose states, including Maine, follow California standards. The House has already passed an identical measure, meaning the Senate vote sends the resolution to President Donald Trump’s desk. Democrats blasted the near-party-line vote for contradicting the Senate parliamentarian, who’d ruled the waiver that the EPA had granted to California to set its own tailpipe standards was not a regulation that could be rolled back under the Congressional Review Act. Maine Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King split over the emission rule, with Collins joining all the other Republicans blocking the states from setting more stringent standards than Congress enacted in 1970.