The Republican-led House moved anew on Tuesday to relinquish Congress’s power to weigh in on President Trump’s tariffs, even as Democrats in the Senate prepared to force votes challenging his trade war.
The maneuver by House Republicans effectively stripped lawmakers of the ability to force action on lifting the tariffs until March 31, 2026, extending a prohibition they initially imposed in the spring to spare their members a politically tough vote.
It came after Representative Gregory W. Meeks of New York, the top Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Committee, tried to surprise Republicans with a bid to block the president’s tariffs on Brazil. His measure was swiftly defeated, and within hours, G.O.P. leaders moved to head off a similar vote. That effort, tucked into a routine procedural measure, passed on Tuesday afternoon almost entirely along party lines.
It was the latest instance in which House Republicans, many of whom have spent much of their career opposing tariffs as a matter of principle, have given up their power over trade. In March, Republicans pushed through a similar procedural measure that made it impossible for lawmakers to use a law governing presidential emergencies to challenge Mr. Trump’s tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China. The next month, they did so again. On Tuesday, they attached one to a measure needed to debate a series of bills to impose stricter criminal penalties in the District of Columbia.
In all three cases, Republicans have used an arcane legislative maneuver to avoid tariff votes. It involves declaring the calendar frozen until a given date, which effectively renders useless a law that allows any lawmaker to insist on a quick floor vote on a proposal to end an emergency declared by the president.
Republicans defended their strategy to short-circuit any such vote, making the case that Mr. Trump’s trade policies were working.
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