Biden Schemes With California To Gut U.S. Auto Industry

As Americans face sticker shock at car dealerships throughout the country and major manufacturers continue waves of layoffs, the Biden administration is on the verge of delivering what would be its most devastating blow yet to the American auto industry.

Earlier this month, reports revealed that Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is poised to approve a Clean Air Act waiver request from California that would culminate in a total ban on sales of new gas- or diesel-powered vehicles in the Golden State by 2035. If the waiver goes through, it would likely have cascading negative effects throughout the entire U.S. auto industry and economy at large.

According to the Competitive Enterprise Institute, “The EPA is expected to grant California a waiver of federal preemption under Section 209(b) of the Clean Air Act (CAA), allowing the State to implement its Advanced Clean Cars II (ACC II) program. The ACC program includes California’s [zero-emission vehicle (ZEV)] sales mandates, motor vehicle greenhouse gas (GHG) emission standards, and tailpipe standards for conventional air pollutants.”

In effect, the California rule would force consumers to purchase electric cars and trucks powered by batteries or fuel cells – thus allowing Biden to bypass Congress and any direct federal action while still securing a major victory for his mission to abolish gas-powered cars.

Of course, Biden’s anti-car crusade is unlikely to end in California. Other blue and purple states have a long history of adopting California’s vehicle regulations in the months and years following their enactment. According to the California Air Resources Board, as of this January, 18 states (in addition to Washington, D.C.) have adopted California’s light- and heavy-duty vehicle regulations under Section 177 of the Clean Air Act.

The Biden administration’s expected approval of the new California waiver, therefore, serves as an ominous sign that these states—and perhaps others—could take their cues from California and transform into anti-gasoline dystopias. Millions of Americans could soon find that they are prohibited by law from purchasing a new – and far less expensive – gas-powered vehicle in their home state.

Perhaps equally troubling is the fact that the Biden EPA has no constitutional or statutory authority to unilaterally impose such rules. In fact, last year, House Republicans—with eight Democrats joining—passed the Preserving Choice in Vehicle Purchases Act, which affirms that California cannot use its waiver authority under the Clean Air Act to ban internal combustion engine vehicles.  

Reports of the Biden administration’s intentions to approve the California waiver come on the heels of a March 20 EPA announcement which outlined new standards imposing the strictest vehicle-emissions regulations ever enacted. These regulations apply to “passenger cars and light trucks for model years 2023 through 2026”—including cars, pickups, and vans—in yet another instance of the Biden White House’s aggressive push to force Americans into purchasing expensive electric vehicles.

As a part of these regulations, in 2030, somewhere between 31 percent and 44 percent of all new cars, SUVs, and pickup trucks sold will be required to be fully electric.

The growing number of policies aimed at phasing out the use of automobiles should also prove beyond any reasonable doubt that America’s skyrocketing gas prices are a feature—not a bug—of the left’s broader progressive platform.

For decades, owning a car has been considered a staple of the American Dream. But as Biden has made clear, the left is willing to sacrifice all of that on the altar of their vision for a “green revolution.”

Biden’s increasing commitment to imposing electric vehicle mandates has also contributed in no small part to the soaring cost of automobiles. According to the Detroit Free Press, the “number of car buyers paying $1,000 or more a month to finance a new vehicle” recently reached an all-time high. Moreover, approximately one in three car buyers are taking out six- to seven-year loans on used vehicles to make monthly payments more affordable—even though only one percent of auto loans lasted that long in 2004.

To make matters worse, climbing interest rates are leading to skyrocketing loan rates for both new and used cars. The average used car loan has reached a whopping 125 percent of the car’s original value. Meanwhile, more and more drivers are falling behind on their car payments, and Biden’s war on American energy has yielded sky-high gas prices.

Earlier this year, former president and presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump made headlines when he warned of an impending “bloodbath” to the U.S. auto industry if Joe Biden is reelected. Despite the media’s flagrant distortion of his comments, in the days since he made the remarks, it appears the Biden administration has been working overtime to validate Trump’s admonition.

As Democrats continue to accelerate their anti-energy agenda fueled by the left’s lofty ambitions of achieving a progressive utopia devoid of oil, gasoline, and traditional cars, the U.S. auto industry, countless American families, and untold numbers of American workers are hurtling toward the brink of destruction.

Aaron Flanigan is the pen name of a writer in Washington, D.C.