House Republicans, joined by a few Democrats, voted on Wednesday to stop California from requiring dealers to sell an increasing percentage of zero-emission medium and heavy-duty vehicles over time and to block an effort to reduce smog.
The two votes were the first of several planned by congressional Republicans that threaten California’s longstanding authority to set state pollution standards stricter than federal ones.
On Thursday, the House is expected to vote on whether to block California from implementing what is widely considered the most ambitious climate policy in the nation: a ban on the sale of gasoline-powered automobiles by 2035.
Eleven other states have adopted California’s ban, which means that if it goes into effect, it could shift the entire U.S. auto industry toward electric vehicles and accelerate a global transition.
“California should not be allowed to dictate national policy,” Representative John Joyce, Republican of Pennsylvania, said on Monday, arguing for the repeal of California’s policies.
Action on the measures now moves to the Senate.
Under the 1970 Clean Air Act, California can receive waivers to enact clean air standards tougher than those set by the federal government because historically it has had the most polluted air in the nation. Federal law also allows other states to adopt California’s standards as their own, under certain circumstances.
Wednesday’s votes were a victory for fossil fuel companies and the trucking industry. They had argued against California’s requirement to limit nitrogen oxide from heavy-duty vehicles, saying that it would be overly burdensome. Nitrogen oxide mixes in the atmosphere to produce ground-level ozone and smog.
The House voted 231 to 191 to revoke the clean truck waiver, with 13 Democrats joining all Republicans. It voted 225 to 196 to revoke the nitrogen oxide limits, with 10 Democrats joining Republicans.
California’s rules were designed to cut nitrogen oxide emissions by 90 percent, which state regulators estimated would produce $23 billion worth of public health benefits.
Representative Morgan Griffith, Republican of Virginia, called the nitrogen oxide restrictions “an effort to truly vilify diesel engines.”
Killing California’s aggressive electric vehicle policies is a top priority for President Trump, who denies the established science of climate change and has sought to end government support for E.V.s and other clean energy technologies.
“California has imposed the most ridiculous car regulations anywhere in the world, with mandates to move to all electric cars,” Mr. Trump said during the campaign. “I will terminate that.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, accused Republicans of bowing to fossil fuel interests and said their actions threatened to hurt the state’s ability to protect its residents from pollution.
“Trump Republicans are hellbent on making California smoggy again,” Mr. Newsom said in a statement.
Major automakers have also asked Congress to stop California’s 2035 ban on gas-powered cars, saying it amounts to an unreasonable electric vehicle mandate that will cause car prices to rise and limit consumer choice.
Democrats and public health advocates say California’s waivers are critical to slashing dangerous pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks in order to avert the worst impacts of climate change.
“The unprecedented House action to strip clean air protections away from America’s children is outrageous,” said Will Barrett, a senior director at the American Lung Association.
If Republicans succeed in repealing the car and truck waivers, “a lot more people will continue to get sick from exposure to extreme ozone pollution, and some portion of those folks will actually die from it,” said Bob Yuhnke, a retired environmental attorney who works with Elders Climate Action, an environmental group.
The battle has been complicated by legal wrangling over the legislative scheme Republicans are using to block California’s policies.
The House votes were held under the Congressional Review Act, a 1996 law that permits lawmakers to reverse recently adopted agency regulations with a simple majority.
But earlier this month, the Senate parliamentarian ruled that California’s waiver was not a regulation and therefore not eligible for a vote under the Congressional Review Act.
Republican leaders in the Senate now must decide whether to take the rare step of defying the parliamentarian to call up the waivers for a similar vote.
California lawmakers called the votes illegal and said they would challenge Republican efforts.
“California’s authority and responsibility to regulate its own pollution is enshrined in federal law and has been repeatedly approved on a bipartisan basis, and reaffirmed by years of independent review,” Senator Adam Schiff, Democrat of California, said in a statement.
“We will fight this latest attack on California’s power to protect its own residents, and I will urge my colleagues in the Senate to recognize the severe implications of proceeding with this violation of states’ rights, as well as the dangerous precedent it would set by flouting the unanimous opinion of Congress’s trusted arbiters,” he said.
Governor Newsom called the votes “lawless” and added, “Our vehicles program helps clean the air for all Californians, and we’ll continue defending it.”
Republicans had made the case that because of California’s economic clout, the auto waiver was setting a de facto national policy that should be treated as a regulation. But two decisions by the Government Accountability Office, the watchdog arm of Congress, found otherwise.
California has received hundreds of waivers over the years, and none had been presented to Congress for a vote — until now.
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