Senate Republicans trigger a clash over the filibuster with vote to kill electric vehicle rule

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans pushed forward with a simple-majority vote late Wednesday to undo an electric vehicle mandate set by California, which Democrats and the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office said should be subject to the 60-vote filibuster rule.

The vote of 51-46 to proceed against objections turns a battle over clean energy policy into a high-stakes clash over the fate of the 60-vote filibuster rule, with consequences for the future of the Senate.

The vote bypassed the filibuster, which can be done in limited circumstances. Democrats had warned that if Republicans proceed in defiance of the Senate parliamentarian, who has sided with the GAO in the dispute, they’d be setting a precedent to nuke the legislative filibuster and turn the Senate into a majority-vote body.

“Republicans just overruled the Parliamentarian, violated the plain text of the Congressional Review Act, changed the Clean Air Act, and broke the filibuster,” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., said in a statement after the vote. “Make no mistake, Democrats will not forget this, and Republicans will rue the day.”

https://www.yahoo.com/news/senate-republicans-trigger-clash-over-215518434.html