Congress
House Republicans move to block vote on Trump’s tariffs
House Republicans are moving to block Democrats from forcing a vote on President Donald Trump’s controversial tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China.
GOP leadership slipped language into a House rule on their stopgap funding bill that would prevent any member of Congress from bringing up a resolution terminating Trump’s declaration of a national emergency over fentanyl and undocumented immigrants entering the U.S. The president has used that emergency declaration to justify his tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China.
Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) and Democratic colleagues filed privileged resolutions last week seeking to terminate the national emergency. As Rep. Susan DelBene (D-Wash.) noted in a release announcing the resolutions, “The legal foundation of IEEPA, the National Emergencies Act, allows Congress to introduce a privileged resolution to terminate the authority, which must be brought to the House for a floor vote within 15 days.”
Republicans’ rule, which the House is voting on this afternoon, would block a vote on Meeks’ resolution, or any similar effort, by declaring that the remainder of days in the first session of the 119th Congress do not qualify as calendar days, exempting the national emergency from a law that allows Congress to force a vote. GOP leaders argue it would protect Trump’s authority on both tariffs and border security.
But Democrats argue it would forfeit lawmakers’ ability to legislate tariffs, which are traditionally only authorized by Congress.
“Guess what [Republicans] tucked into this rule, hoping that nobody would notice?” Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), the ranking member of the House Rules Committee, said on the House floor on Tuesday as he urged his colleagues to vote “no” on the rule. “They slipped in a little clause letting them escape ever having to debate or vote on Trump’s tariffs. Isn’t that clever?”
Trump has relied on the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose tariffs on China, Canada and Mexico, though a large chunk of those have now been paused. The 1977 law gives the president broad authority to control international transactions after declaring a national emergency, but it’s never been used before to impose tariffs.
Congress can approve a joint resolution to end a national emergency declared by the president. But that’s currently a tall order, since Republicans control both the House and the Senate and are loathe to vote against the president’s agenda. At the same time, there is growing unease about the impact the tariffs are having on the stock market and wide swathes of the U.S. economy, raising the political risks of a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ vote.
House Republican appropriators are publicly rebuking the Trump administration for seeking must-have military cash through a party-line reconciliation bill that’s not guaranteed to clear Congress.
In a report they plan to release later this week, obtained by Blue Light News, House appropriators warn that the White House is trying to fund “critical efforts” like weapons and military equipment through the party-line process, rather than using it to “scale up” military dollars beyond Congress’ regular government funding bills.
“This approach is risky and uncoordinated,” reads the report, an official addendum that goes along with the chamber’s defense funding bill for the fiscal year that starts in October.
In particular, appropriators criticized President Donald Trump’s budget request for splitting funding for the F-35 fighter, the most expensive program in Pentagon history, between the two bills.
The annual government funding bills and the reconciliation process are “entirely separate tracks, with different timelines, committees of jurisdiction, and approval processes,” the report notes.
Many Republican lawmakers are also doubtful GOP leaders will succeed in enacting another party-line package this year.
Jennifer Scholtes contributed to this report.
The House will begin consideration of a bipartisan housing bill Tuesday, with a final vote potentially taking place the same day, accelerating a previous plan to secure congressional passage of the legislation, according to four people familiar with the planning granted anonymity to discuss planning not yet public.
The Senate will hold a final vote on the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act Monday.
House leadership had planned to fast-track approval of the housing affordability bill by suspending the rules, a maneuver that limits debate but requires a two-thirds majority vote, as soon as Wednesday, but are looking to move that process a day earlier, the people said.
President Donald Trump is expected to hold a signing ceremony for the bill as soon as Wednesday, said two people familiar, involved with the planning conversations.
The housing bill aims to tackle housing affordability and boost homeownership and supply as the looming midterm election is dominated by cost-of-living concerns and Congress has a narrowing window to get legislation through before the August recess.
Meredith Lee Hill contributed to this report.
Alan Dershowitz is scheduled to speak with the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on July 20 as part of its ongoing Jeffery Epstein investigation.
“I asked to be allowed to set the record straight and correct various misconceptions,” Dershowitz said in a text message. “I look forward to doing so.”
The prominent criminal defense attorney who once represented O.J. Simpson and President Donald Trump also worked on Epstein’s 2008 plea deal, which many have argued allowed Epstein — who died by suicide behind bars in 2019 — to continue to prey on young women and girls for another several years before his later incarceration.
The Oversight Committee is separately set Friday to interview investor Leon Black, whose business dealings with Epstein have been under congressional scrutiny for years.
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