Congress took another step to erode California’s ability to regulate emissions affecting air quality, dealing a potentially significantly blow to Tesla’s ability to profit from sales of regulatory credits for producing zero-emission vehicles.

The U.S. Senate on Thursday voted to bar California's landmark plan to end the sale of gasoline-only vehicles by 2035 that has been adopted by 11 other states representing a third of the U.S. auto market.

Senate Republicans led the push to block California's ability to impose tough limits on car emissions — a move Democrats call unprecedented.