内容摘要：Holland said the “terribly thought-out legislation” puts environmental, racial justice, LGBTQ+ and other groups at risk.

Holland said the “terribly thought-out legislation” puts environmental, racial justice, LGBTQ+ and other groups at risk.

Democrats voted in 2013, under President Barack Obama, to lower the vote threshold to a simple majority for all presidential nominees, with the exception of the Supreme Court. In 2017, during President Donald Trump’s first term, Republicans rolled back the remaining filibuster rules to confirm Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, a rule that Democrats maintained in confirming Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson in 2022. That same year, Democrats unsuccessfully attempted to roll back the legislative filibuster but were thwarted by some in their own party who opposed the move.Republicans have argued this week that they are simply reinforcing Senate rules, and federal laws, that are already in place.

“We are not talking about doing anything to erode the institutional character of the Senate; in fact, we are talking about preserving the Senate’s prerogatives,” Thune said.The votes to roll back California standards come after years of Republican efforts to block them. The Trump administration in 2019 revoked California’s ability to enforce its own emissions standards, but President Joe Biden later restored the state’s authority.Republicans have argued that the rules effectively dictate standards for the whole country, imposing what would eventually be a nationwide electric vehicle mandate. Around a dozen states have already followed California’s lead.

California for decades has been given the authority to adopt vehicle emissions standards that are stricter than the federal government’s. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, announced plans in 2020 to ban the sale of all new gas-powered vehicles within 15 years as part of an aggressive effort to lower emissions from the transportation sector. Plug-in hybrids and used gas cars could still be sold.The Biden administration approved the state’s waiver to implement the standards

, a month before Trump returned to office. The California rules are stricter than a Biden-era rule that tightens emissions standards but does not require sales of electric vehicles.

Biden’s EPA said in announcing the decision that opponents of the California waivers did not meet their legal burden to show how either the EV rule or a separate measure on heavy-duty vehicles was inconsistent with the Clean Air Act.This undated handout photo provided by the Greek Police and released on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025 shows a marble statue of a woman believed to be more than 2,000 years old which was found abandoned in a garbage bag in the northern city of Thessaloniki, Greece. (Greek Police via AP)

Police said experts, following an initial evaluation, determined the piece dates to the Hellenistic era, a period roughly between 320 and 30 B.C. that was marked by a flourishing of art and culture following the conquests of Alexander the Great.The statue was sent for further examination by archaeologists. It will ultimately be handed over to the local antiquities authority for preservation and study.

Police opened an investigation to determine who discarded the statue and briefly detained a man for questioning who was later released without charge.Accidental archaeological discoveries are relatively common in Greece, a country renowned for its ancient heritage, and often made during building construction or public works. In December, workers installing natural gas pipelines near Athens uncovered a