This veto protects legislation that “will prevent hundreds, if not thousands, of premature deaths.”

Last week, President Biden vetoed a Republican-led resolution that would have repealed his cleaner truck emissions standards, which were finalized by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last December.

The EPA standards cover new “heavy-duty vehicles” including trucks, delivery vans, and buses. The new standards will require an 80 percent reduction in polluting emissions from these vehicles. A narrow majority in the Republican-controlled House approved the resolution to block the stronger new rules. The Senate went along on a 50-49 vote in which Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia joined Republicans on an otherwise party-line vote to block the cleaner standards. The EPA estimates that the new standards will prevent up to 2,900 premature deaths, 6,700 hospital admissions and emergency department visits, and 18,000 cases of childhood asthma by 2045.

In his veto message to Congress, Biden said that the EPA’s rule “cuts pollution, boosts public health, and advances environmental justice in communities across the country. It will prevent hundreds, if not thousands, of premature deaths; thousands of childhood asthma cases; and millions of missed school days every year.”

In contrast, the resolution to veto the rule “would deny communities these health benefits by resulting in weaker emissions standards for heavy-duty vehicles and engines, which are significant sources of pollutants that threaten public health. If enacted, the resolution would squander $36 billion in benefits to society — and an opportunity to lead on the defining crisis of our time. Therefore, I am vetoing this resolution.”