The Senate will vote to repeal controversial regulatory guidance on how auto dealers finance loans to customers meant to curtail discriminatory lending, said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Addison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnellPelosi: Trump hurrying to fill SCOTUS seat so he can repeal ObamaCare Senate GOP aims to confirm Trump court pick by Oct. 29: report Trump argues full Supreme Court needed to settle potential election disputes MORE (R-Ky.).

McConnell said Tuesday the Senate will vote on a measure to repeal guidance from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) targeting auto loan “dealer markups,” a practice in which additional interest is added by the dealer to a customer’s third-party car loan as compensation to the seller.

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The Senate voted to begin debate on the measure by a 50-47 margin, with Sen. Joe Manchin Joseph (Joe) ManchinThe Hill's Morning Report - Sponsored by Facebook - Trump, GOP allies prepare for SCOTUS nomination this week Trump meets with potential Supreme Court pick Amy Coney Barrett at White House Names to watch as Trump picks Ginsburg replacement on Supreme Court MORE (D-W.Va.) the only Democrat to support the motion. The repeal only needs a simple majority of votes to pass, and a final vote is scheduled for Wednesday at noon.

“Republicans are chopping away at the tangled mess of regulations the last administration left behind,” McConnell said Tuesday. “Our whole economy is getting a tune-up. And now it’s time for the front end of the auto industry to come along for the ride.”

Under former Director Richard Cordray Richard Adams CordrayConsumer bureau revokes payday lending restrictions Supreme Court ruling could unleash new legal challenges to consumer bureau Supreme Court rules consumer bureau director can be fired at will MORE, the CFPB had used the guidance as the legal justification behind several enforcement actions against auto dealers they accused of charging minority customers higher dealer markups.

Republicans and the auto industry blasted the CFPB for using a policy that was not vetted or approved as a regulation and was, critics say, based on flawed analysis.

Now critics of the CFPB are using a December judgment from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to target the 2013 guidance under the Congressional Review Act (CRA). Republicans have used the CRA to repeal more than a dozen regulations from the previous administration during Trump’s first year.

While the CRA gives Congress the power to repeal formal rules issued by federal agencies, it was unclear whether it could be used to overturn informal guidance, like the CFPB’s warning on dealer markups.

The GAO said in December that the CRA could be used to repeal guidance, responding to an inquiry from Toomey. That decision opened up a slew of repeal targets for Republicans eager to chisel away at regulations issued under former President Obama.

“We used the Congressional Review Act a record 15 times last year,” McConnell said. “Let’s join with our colleagues from Pennsylvania and Kansas and add another victory to that list.”

Consumer advocacy groups and progressive nonprofits aligned with the Cordray-era CFPB have defended the auto lending guidance and urged the Senate to preserve it. They’ve also expressed fears that Republicans would use the CRA to destroy other critical protections for vulnerable Americans.

Republicans repealed the CFPB's 2017 rule on forced arbitration clauses through the CRA in November and are targeting the bureau's rule on short-term, high-interest loans, commonly known as payday loans.

More than two dozen consumer protection, civil rights and financial sector watchdog groups wrote in a Tuesday letter to McConnell and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer Chuck SchumerSenate Democrats introduce legislation to probe politicization of pandemic response Schumer interrupted during live briefing by heckler: 'Stop lying to the people' Jacobin editor: Primarying Schumer would force him to fight Trump's SCOTUS nominee MORE (D-N.Y.) that repealing the guidance “would send the wrong message to the auto industry and to the American people.”

“Discrimination in auto lending contributes to credit access disparities and to the racial and ethnic wealth gap,” wrote the groups, including the NAACP, Center for Responsible Lending, National Urban League, and American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. “We urge you to oppose [repeal] and keep the federal government’s commitment to rooting out racial discrimination clear.”

The National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA), which supports the repeal of the 2013 guidance, insisted that car sellers wouldn't be allowed to get away with discrimination.

The group said in a release opposing the guidance that “auto dealers take fair credit seriously, and all national dealer associations are firmly committed to promoting strong fair credit compliance through a robust voluntary fair credit compliance program.”

“Every customer, of every race, deserves to be treated fairly, and there is no place for discrimination in the auto retailing business,” NADA wrote.

Updated at 6:22 p.m.