The Senate is scheduled to vote this week to revoke three-car emissions exemptions in California, a controversial move, with members of the committee saying Republicans may not have the rights.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called the planned vote a "nuclear choice."

The Senate hopes to revoke three exemptions from federal regulations. The two exemptions involved reducing tailpipe emissions from medium and heavy vehicles, as well as limiting smoke pollution in trucks.

The last one is the "EV mission" commonly known as California, a rule designed to phase out gasoline power and requires all new vehicles in California to be sold until 2035.

Under the Clean Air Act, California has the ability to set stricter vehicle emission standards than the federal government, which involves getting exemptions from the Environmental Protection Agency if the regulations meet certain requirements. The Biden administration's EPA approved three exemptions in 2024.

Republicans believe that the Congressional Review Act allows Congress to overturn the rules passed by federal agencies, including exemptions, through a simple majority vote, but nonpartisan government regulators disagree. Senate Democrats say the Office of Government Accountability and Senate members have found that the Congressional Review Act cannot be used to vote for California's exemption because the exemption is different from the rules.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, who supported the revocation of the immunity, said in a speech in the Senate on Tuesday: “The EPA has submitted the immunity as Congress, which is all about Congress’ decision to consider certain things under the Congressional Review Act.”

But Democrats say such a vote is illegal and thinks vetoing the parliamentarian and bypassing fillibuster is a dangerous precedent.

"If they propose such a nuclear option now, they should expect that future Democratic administrations must revisit decades worth of corporate settlements, delayed prosecution agreements, and overly favorable tax rulings for multinational corporations and super healthy individuals," said Senate Finance Committee member Ron Wyden.

The California Air Resources Commission is a national agency that develops vehicle emission regulations and requires exemptions, measuring and setting California’s pollution standards to comply with the Clean Air Act. It claims that the state has applied for more than 100 waivers compared to vehicles since 1970, with vehicles with a cleanliness of 99% in terms of pollution.

"The law is that the Clean Air Act states that if California is stricter, it is stricter and more environmentally friendly than any standard in the federal government," said Mary Nichols, chairman of the California Aviation Resources Commission from 1975 to 1982, and then from 2007 to 2020. Nichols told CBS News that California would sue the federal government if Congress uses Congress to revoke the waiver using Congressional review.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta told Politico in March that his office was ready for a legal battle and said: "We don't think this is a proper use of the Congressional Review Act and we are ready to defend ourselves if it is wrongly weaponized."

California's waivers are expected to affect cities and states across the country, as 16 other states and the District of Columbia passed California's vehicle standards.

Republicans have staunchly criticized California's emissions rules, especially those aimed at pushing the automotive industry towards electric vehicles.

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, a West Virginia Republican, chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said this week that the rules fall under the “forcement of certain states and certain consumers to buy vehicles they may not want or cannot find.”

The automotive industry has been pushing Republicans to revoke California’s waivers. The Professional Equipment Market Association represents the automotive after-sales industry, with one-third of its business dependent on internal combustion engines and regards exemptions and expansion of electric vehicles as a threat to the business.

"The exemption death in California will give life to more than 330,000 U.S. jobs and retain the impact of more than $100 billion in economy on the national economy," the association said in a statement.

However, the Congressional Review Act revoked immunities, shocking the environmental groups. The Environmental Defense Fund said in a statement that the Congressional vote would undermine California’s ability to address pollution.

“Using the CRA’s pre-exempt exemption to the EPA may be a move to eliminate the ineffectiveness of Congress on other executive actions that are beyond the scope of the CRA – from decisions about the social security eligibility of Americans, to exempt state Medicaid or veterans’ health benefits, to actions related to energy infrastructure projects,” the group said. ”