We have cleaner air with more cars on the road because clean vehicle standards work. The irony — and the danger — is that this success means many Americans have forgotten what it’s like to live with truly dirty air. We can’t let that complacency undo 50 years of progress.

Rolling back these standards would not only worsen those impacts, it would harm the more than 410,000 Americans employed in the clean vehicles industry and slow the growth of this job-creating sector.

We should all want to protect and improve our air quality. We should all also want to support and expand auto manufacturing. The existing clean air standards are driving the designing, building, testing, and deploying electric vehicles of the future.

The science is clear: Clean air saves lives. It improves public health, especially for children. And we know one of the biggest contributors to air pollution—and to asthma—is tailpipe emissions. When we reduce them, communities breathe easier, kids stay healthier, and fewer families endure nights in the emergency room wondering if their child will make it until morning.