Johnson Already Doing Trump's Veto Work For Him On Senate's Bipartisan Tariff Bill
Source: Talking Points Memo
April 7, 2025 6:09 p.m.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) came out against even entertaining the idea of bringing to the House floor a Senate bill that would limit the President’s authority to unilaterally impose tariffs.
The bipartisan legislation was introduced by Sens. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA); seven Republican senators have already signed onto the effort to take back some of Congress’ authority on tariffs from the President. In some ways, the legislation has become a vehicle for Republicans to vocalize their concerns about Trump’s tariffs, which have sent the stock marketing tanking even before the levies kick in on Wednesday.
Rep. Dan Bacon (R-NE) said he would introduce similar legislation in the House today, in an effort to get Congress to assert its sole authority over tariff policy — which, he said, Congress should not have ceded to the President. (It’s unclear if Bacon is referring to the longtime policy that allows presidents to declare emergencies to which he can respond with tariffs, or recent moves by his chamber.
House Republican leadership slipped language into a procedural vote last month when the House was working on passing legislation to avert a shutdown that, essentially, blocks the lower chamber from being able to take a vote on legislation that would end tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China this year. At the time, it was seen as a way to guard against House Republicans having to take a vote on a politically bad, for them, issue.)
Read more: https://talkingpointsmemo.com/where-things-stand/johnson-already-doing-trumps-veto-work-for-him-on-senates-bipartisan-tariff-bill