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.
The Senate on Monday overwhelmingly passed a long-awaited bipartisan housing bill, which is expected to set the legislation on a glide path to President Donald Trump’s desk for signature as soon as this week.
The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, which passed 85-5 and contains almost 60 individual provisions, aims to tackle housing affordability and boost housing supply and homeownership. Sens. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) voted “no.”
The legislation now moves on to the House, which could take up the bill for final passage as soon as Tuesday.
The legislation has become a pillar of Congress’ overall response to affordability concerns that have emerged as a key issue this midterm election year.
Despite broad, bipartisan support for the bill in both the House and Senate, the two chambers went back and forth on the legislation for months. Primary friction points developed over language establishing new restrictions on large Wall Street investors purchasing single-family homes, a ban on the Federal Reserve issuing a digital currency and a slate of community banking deregulation initiatives, among other measures.
The bill was able to move forward last week after the four lawmakers leading the legislation — Senate Banking Chair Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and ranking member Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and House Financial Services Chair French Hill (R-Ark.) and ranking member Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) — came to an agreement. The White House also announced support for the final version of the bill, which contains Trump’s top priority of limiting Wall Street’s footprint in the housing market.
Sen. Mitch McConnell will not return to the Senate this week, a spokesperson for the Kentucky Republican said Monday.
“Senator McConnell is still working closely with staff on Senate business and Kentucky matters as he continues his recovery. However, he will not be voting this week,” said the spokesperson, David Popp.
McConnell’s ongoing absence means planned Senate Appropriations Committee markups scheduled for later this week will be canceled, according to a committee aide who was granted anonymity to speak ahead of a formal announcement.
The former GOP leader was hospitalized earlier this month for undisclosed reasons and missed votes last week. The Senate is set to start a two-week recess later this week.
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.
- Turek leads Hinson in Iowa Senate poll of likely general election voters
- Senate passes housing affordability bill
- Mitch McConnell will not vote this week
- China restricts exports to US defense firms
- Democrats want control of Congress, but what will they actually do with it?
- Federal appeals court blocks CFPB job cuts
- Treasury Department issues temporary license for Iranian oil sales
- A flawed Iran deal could give investors second thoughts
- House Republicans slam Trump’s ‘risky and uncoordinated’ military funding strategy
- House to accelerate housing bill consideration, final passage as soon as Tuesday
-
Politics1 year agoFormer ‘Squad’ members launching ‘Bowman and Bush’ YouTube show
-
The Dictatorship1 year agoLuigi Mangione acknowledges public support in first official statement since arrest
-
Politics1 year agoFormer Kentucky AG Daniel Cameron launches Senate bid
-
Uncategorized2 years ago
Bob Good to step down as Freedom Caucus chair this week
-
The Dictatorship1 year agoPete Hegseth’s tenure at the Pentagon goes from bad to worse
-
The Josh Fourrier Show2 years agoDOOMSDAY: Trump won, now what?
-
Politics1 year agoBlue Light News’s Editorial Director Ryan Hutchins speaks at Blue Light News’s 2025 Governors Summit
-
The Dictatorship10 months agoMike Johnson sums up the GOP’s arrogant position on military occupation with two words