House Rules Committee moves to protect Trump's tariffs from congressional disapproval
Published in News & Features
WASHINGTON — The House Rules Committee teed up legislation for a floor vote Tuesday that would again prevent lawmakers from terminating President Donald Trump’s emergency tariffs, this time until July 31.
The panel voted 8-3 Monday to report the resolution, but the floor vote, expected at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, may encounter resistance from Republicans who were unhappy when the House adopted a resolution in September that put the prohibition in place until last month.
“This extension will allow the Supreme Court the time necessary to provide a ruling on this very consequential issue,” House Rules Chairwoman Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., said, noting that the court heard arguments in November in a case challenging Trump’s authority to levy tariffs. Critics call the tariffs a tax and note that the constitution gives Congress sole authority to tax.
The measure — part of a rule for floor debate on three unrelated bills — would block a fast-track procedure to disapprove of tariffs Trump levied under a 1977 law giving him emergency powers. It applies to tariff announcements made on Feb.1, April 2, July 30 and Aug. 6 of last year.
“I just got to say this is really stunning,” House Rules ranking member Jim McGovern, D-Mass., said. “It is no secret that in private many Republican members of Congress have concerns with President Trump’s tariff policies. … They were just about to have the chance to vote this week to end them.”
Six GOP members nearly derailed a floor vote on a similar procedural vote in September. Three members changed their votes after receiving assurances from leadership. The House adopted the resolution, 213-211. The House voted the next day to adopt a resolution that set Jan. 31 as the end date, moving it up from March 31 in the initial resolution.
Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., one of the Republicans who changed his vote in September, said at the time that there would be “a bunch of us, probably” who would vote against a new rule that includes the language.
GOP Reps. Tom McClintock and Jay Obernolte, both of California, also changed their votes in September after a pledge from Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to make Jan. 31, 2026, the end date for the prohibition.
Republicans Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Victoria Spartz of Indiana and Kevin Kiley of California maintained their “no” votes.
Kiley opposed an attempt to attach an extension to the spending law enacted at the end of January.
“I don’t think that’s a good thing to do. I was against it before. I also think it’s not a good thing to make these changes through unrelated goals,” Kiley said in January. He added that he voted against an extension then and he doesn’t have a reason to act differently another time around.
The Senate in October passed three disapproval resolutions on the administration’s use of a law known as the International Emergency Economic Powers Act for baseline and reciprocal tariffs and the levies on Canada and Brazil.
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