The times they are a changin’, especially on progressive climate dogma. On Thursday the House voted in strong bipartisan fashion to overturn the EV mandate the Biden Administration let California impose on the rest of America.

The vote was 246-164 for a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution to repeal the waiver that the Environmental Protection Agency granted California for its EV mandate. The waiver provision was written to let California address smog. But Sacramento Democrats lobbied the Biden EPA to let it apply to carbon emissions.

The mandate is ludicrously impossible to meet. It says zero-emissions vehicles would have to account for 43% of an auto maker’s sales by 2027 in California and the dozen other states that have signed up for its rules. It rises to 68% by 2030.

Major car makers other than Tesla are nowhere near those sales targets. It also amounts to another case of California’s regulatory imperialism on the rest of the U.S. since car makers would have to adjust their assembly lines to meet the Golden State’s standards.

The House vote is especially striking because of the 35 Democratic ayes. That included three of six Democrats from Michigan, three of five from Ohio, four of 12 from Texas, and even two from the High Climate Church of California (Luis Correa and George Whitesides). Let’s hope they’re not excommunicated by Pope Gavin (Newsom) I.

The vote underscores that one salutary effect of the 2024 election is the introduction of at least some economic realism into the climate policy debate. Pressed by big environmental donors, Democrats have been willing to genuflect at whatever demands the climate lobby makes–never mind if they will have no effect on global temperatures. President Trump’s willingness to challenge this orthodoxy has shown Democrats that the political risks aren’t all on one side.

Next up is what we hope will be a Senate vote to repeal the waiver. The CRA says the resolution needs only a simple majority to pass, and Republicans who are skittish can take comfort in the bipartisan House majority. The Democratic roll call will be instructive–especially those are up for re-election in 2026 such as Georgia’s Jon Ossoff and Virginia’s Mark Warner.

The New York Times tried to spin the Senate vote over the weekend by calling the CRA an “obscure law” that threatens the filibuster. Yet Bill Clinton signed the CRA knowing about its provision requiring only 51 Senate votes. It’s especially amusing to see the Times, which claims Mr. Trump is a dictator, criticizing an attempt by Congress to rein in the executive. Reporter Maya Miller never mentions the 35 Democratic votes to repeal the California waiver.

If the resolution passes the Senate, Mr. Trump is expected to sign it after he campaigned explicitly against such mandates last year, notably in car-making states like Michigan. Repealing the waiver would be a good deed for the car companies, auto workers, car buyers and the U.S. economy.

— The Wall Street Journal