Top five Congressional Review Act wins of 2025: Congress reverses Biden-era rules

By THE ALASKA STORY

The Congressional Review Act became one of Congress’s most powerful tools in 2025, allowing lawmakers to undo late-stage Biden Administration regulations with a simple majority vote in both chambers and the president’s signature.

Republicans used the CRA with enthusiasm this year, rolling back a series of major rules that had driven up costs, restricted energy production, and limited consumer choices.

Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso said the effort delivered tangible economic relief.

“By reining in Biden’s heavy-handed bureaucrats, we are saving Americans $180 billion,” Barrasso said in a Dec. 17 floor speech. “That pencils out to over $2,000 in savings for each and every family.”

Here are the most significant CRA reversals of 2025.

1. Blocking EV mandates and the ban on new gas-powered cars

Congressional Republicans overturned a Biden-era waiver that allowed California and states that adopt its standards to ban the sale of new gas-powered vehicles by 2035. Lawmakers rescinded two other California rules requiring zero-emission heavy-duty trucks and effectively eliminating diesel engines.

Republicans warned the electric vehicle mandates would undermine consumer choice and devastate the auto industry nationwide.

Former President Donald Trump made repealing EV mandates a central issue in his 2024 campaign.

2. Reopening coal leasing in the Powder River Basin

In October, Congress repealed a Biden-era rule restricting coal leasing across millions of acres in the Powder River Basin of Montana and Wyoming — the most productive coal region in the country.

More than 40% of US coal production comes from the Powder River Basin, according to the Energy Information Administration. Congress also overturned a separate Biden plan restricting coal leasing on Wyoming public lands.

3. Rolling back energy restrictions in Alaska

For Alaska, the CRA proved especially consequential.

In December, Trump signed two resolutions of disapproval overturning Biden-era rules that restricted oil and gas leasing across 13 million acres in Central Yukon and limited future development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s Coastal Plain.

“When we unlock Alaska, we are strengthening America’s national security and economic posture in this generation and for generations to come,” said Congressman Nick Begich. “These bills are not isolated. They are representative of a long-term strategy to rebuild our energy strength, reconstruct our critical mineral inventory, and ensure that America, not China, controls the supply chains that power our economy.”

Alaska’s delegation and many tribal communities warned the restrictions would devastate local economies, particularly on the North Slope.

“The economy in the North Slope is oil and gas activity,” Begich said. “The building blocks of communities – schools, healthcare, roads and running water – exist due to the economic base our early leaders ensured that we had access to.”

4. Repealing overdraft fee price controls

In the spring, Republicans repealed a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rule that capped most bank overdraft fees at $5, down from an average of about $35. The rule was finalized in December 2024.

The regulation would reduced access to credit for low-income customers and push them toward higher-cost payday lenders, while also exceeding the CFPB’s authority.

5. Cancelling costly appliance efficiency rules

Congress overturned multiple Biden Energy regulations imposing stricter energy efficiency standards on commercial appliances, including walk-in coolers, freezers, and commercial refrigerators.

The rules had imposed significant compliance costs on small businesses and limited product availability.

Lawmakers also successfully repealed a Biden rule that would have banned certain gas water heaters by 2029.

The CRA victories marked a decisive shift in federal regulatory policy, reversing what Republicans described as a late-term surge of Biden-era rules. For energy-producing states like Alaska, the rollbacks carried outsized economic and strategic significance.

Milestone year as Trump signs two Alaska-focused CRA resolutions into law