# Plain Language Summary: H.J. RES. 177

This bill is Congress's attempt to block a new Environmental Protection Agency rule about greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. The EPA rule, which went into effect in May 2024, sets stricter pollution limits for both new coal and natural gas power plants and existing ones. If this bill passes both the House and Senate, it would completely erase that EPA rule, meaning the stricter pollution standards would disappear and power plants would no longer have to follow them.

The practical effect is straightforward: power plants that burn fossil fuels would be allowed to emit more greenhouse gases and other pollutants into the air. The EPA rule being blocked would have required power plants to invest in cleaner technology or reduce their emissions over time. Without it, there's no federal requirement pushing them to do so. This means potentially more air pollution in communities near power plants, but it also means power companies wouldn't face the costs of upgrading their equipment or changing how they operate.

The bill uses a special congressional process called the Congressional Review Act that allows Congress to overturn federal agency rules with a simple majority vote, rather than going through the normal legislative process. If it becomes law, it would represent a significant rollback of environmental protections that the Biden administration put in place. The rule being blocked also repealed a previous Trump-era rule called the Affordable Clean Energy Rule, so if this bill passes, that older, less stringent rule could potentially come back into effect.

Providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Environmental Protection Agency relating to "New Source Performance Standards for Greenhouse Gas Emissions From New, Modified, and Reconstructed Fossil Fuel-Fired Electric Generating Units; Emission Guidelines for Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Existing Fossil Fuel-Fired Electric Generating Units; and Repeal of the Affordable Clean Energy Rule".