Washington - The House of Representatives this week carried out three votes on California's decades-old power to enforce its own environmental standards, laying the foundation for a major U.S. Senate stalemate, with Democrats saying Republican leaders must defy long-standing congressional orders before they can pass measures.

Voting is being questioned California abandoned from the Clean Air Act of 1970, which allowed the state to develop stricter pollution guidelines and authorized its leaders to set alternative standards for federal government vehicle emissions.

House Republicans joined the Democrats on Thursday to vote by banning California from refueling cars by 2035.

Automakers have been bending their auto production lines to meet California mileage standards for decades, partly because of the size of the California market and partly because the industry finds it a safer bet — a power change so prevalent in Washington — more stringent than other options.

But since President Trump took office, the Environmental Protection Agency has questioned whether the mandate constitutes a technical “rule” that allows the Senate to vote in a simple majority under the Congressional Review Act to disapprove the exemption.

In the past two months, two separate offices – the Senate and the Office of Government Responsibility or GAO – have found that California’s immunity is not subject to scrutiny under the Congressional Review Act.

The GAO said California's exemption was "not a rule" under the law, noting that the matter has been reviewed several times over the past 60 years. The office found that “the recent submission of EPA is inconsistent with this Caselaw.”

While these rulings are not enough to prevent the vote from moving forward in the House, under Majority Leader John Thune (RSS), Senate Republican leaders decided how to proceed.

"Let me know the process, too," Senator Alexander Padilla (D-Calif.) said in a statement. "Senate members have maintained decades of precedent and determined that Senate rules do not allow these Krass. If Senate Republicans take these measures under the Congressional Review Act, they will pass a veto and attack California without a doubt."

The office of California Senator Adam Schiff also said he would urge others in the Senate to stick to the GAO findings, noting that Thune had previously promised to comply with “regular orders” by votes — traditionally, that meant paying attention to lawmakers and high offices.

"The Republicans themselves acknowledge that the Congressional Review Act is not a tool to ignore the law and overturn precedents, and so are Senate members," Schiff said.

He added: “We will carry out the latest attack on California’s power to protect its residents and I urge colleagues in the Senate to recognize the serious implications of breaching state rights and the dangerous precedent set against the consensus view of arbitrators trusted by Congress.”