In a span of less than 48 hours, Republicans in Congress took a small step toward declaring some independence from President Donald Trump, before retreating a step or three.
Late Tuesday, a tiny fraction of the House GOP — just three Republicans — flexed its muscle, opening the way for votes aimed at stopping Trump’s tariffs. And Wednesday evening, six House Republicans joined arms with 213 Democrats on a successful vote that, if enacted, would knock out Trump’s tariffs on Canada.
Yet as these Republicans were voting against one of Trump’s signature policies, their fellow GOP lawmakers were publicly backing up a pair of embattled Cabinet leaders in contentious committee hearings.
The tiny House rebellion, coupled with the defense of top Trump officials, could serve as Exhibit A in a case on the danger of over-reading cracks in the dam of support for Trump among his Republican allies on Capitol Hill.
The vibes have shifted since early last year, when public and private threats against wayward Republicans rescued Cabinet nominees from potential defeat. Many Republicans now recognize what dire political straits they are in after last fall’s Democratic romp in key governor’s races, followed by more GOP floundering in special elections for state legislatures.
Trump is not popular, Americans are frustrated about the economy, and without a course correction, most Republicans realize that November’s midterm elections could be brutal.
But very few are willing to put any distance between themselves and Trump, even if doing so might help them electorally. They fear getting politically targeted — like Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky) was.
Massie, who continued to be a thorn in the administration’s side this week on the tariff votes, drew Trump’s ire when he co-led a successful push to force the release of investigative files related to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. He’s broken with his party time and again on votes and is now headed for spring primary challenge against a Trump-backed opponent.
On Tuesday’s initial tariff vote, Massie was joined by just two Republicans: Reps. Don Bacon (Nebraska) and Kevin Kiley (California). Both have unique circumstances that allow them to thumb their nose at Trump.
Bacon, after winning five straight tough elections in eastern Nebraska, has decided to retire rather than continuing in a House Republican Conference that is increasingly opposed to the sort of traditional Reagan-Bush ethos that he grew up supporting. Kiley, also from a swing district, felt abandoned by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) and White House officials when they pushed Texas and other conservative states to draw new congressional maps — which prompted California and other liberal states to do the same, effectively obliterating his suburban Sacramento district.
Together, Bacon, Massie and Kiley hoped they were speaking out on behalf of quite a few sheepish Republicans who also despised the tariff policy but were too afraid to take on the party’s leadership on Tuesday’s procedural vote.
Yet when Democrats called up the first of several proposed tariff-busting votes Wednesday, the GOP trio found only three more Republicans willing to oppose Trump and leadership, giving Democrats a rare win, 219-211. (With just 218 Republican members, Johnson can afford only one Massie-style defection and win a party-line vote.)
Of course, these are mostly symbolic votes, because even if the same bill passed the Senate, Trump would certainly veto the legislation. And as Wednesday’s close vote showed, Trump retains more than enough Republican support to sustain a veto override attempt (which requires a two-thirds majority).
Still, Republicans like Bacon want the chance to register their public opposition to the unpopular tariff policyin any way possible, and Democrats will continue to offer up these tariff votes in the weeks ahead.
“For too long, we have handed that authority to the executive branch. It’s time for Congress to reclaim that responsibility,” Bacon wrote on social media after his Tuesday vote.
Democrats plan to turn the votes supporting tariffs by a couple dozen GOP incumbents in swing districts into ads saying they support higher costs through Trump’s tariffs.
“This was an epic miscalculation by vulnerable House Republicans,” Justin Chermol, spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, wrote in a Wednesday memo to reporters.
Across the street, in committee hearing rooms, Republicans fell in line with the administration.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick was on the Hill, appearing before a panel of the Senate Appropriations Committee. He was supposed to be talking about the implementation of Commerce’s broadband program. But in recent days, documents released by the Justice Department have revealed that Lutnick had more encounters with Epstein than the secretary previously acknowledged.
On a conservative podcast last year, Lutnick said that he met Epstein, a neighbor in Manhattan, in 2005, that he felt uncomfortable around him and that he had no further contact after that. The recently released documents indicated that he visited Epstein on a private island in 2012, four years after the financier pleaded guilty to charges of soliciting a minor; made another visit to his apartment; and messaged Epstein on several occasions.
Democrats pressed Lutnick on these meetings, and the secretary acknowledged them, while saying that there were just three meetings over 14 years and that he never saw anything untoward happen.
“We had lunch on the island. That is true. For an hour. And we left with all of my children,” he told the committee members.
Republicans on that panel steered entirely away from the Epstein matter, however, and focused on broadband or other policy issues in his portfolio.
In the hallways of the Capitol, members of the Senate Commerce Committee, who voted to confirm Lutnick’s nomination last year, found themselves facing questions about his standing. Lutnick is among the most senior appointed U.S. officials present in the files; many of his European counterparts with Epstein connections have been forced to resign, and in some cases, their appointments have led to political problems for their parties.
Republicans did not rush out to defend Lutnick, but they also did not complain about being blindsided by the new information about his encounters with Epstein. Mostly, they ducked questions about his connections to the late financier.
“Call my press office,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), the panel’s chair, said Tuesday.
“So your question is, would it trouble me? I think it’s fair to say it would raise questions, and I’m sure there will be people who will obtain some answers here,” said Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi), a senior member of the panel who once served as chair.
“My staff says I’m in trouble for what I said yesterday, so I’m not going to talk about Epstein anymore,” said Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyoming), who a day earlier told a reporter “now I see what the big deal is”about calls for more information about Epstein.
The toughest comments came from Sen. Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina), who is not on the Commerce Committee but who, after announcing his own retirement plans, has been critical of many Trump aides the past month.
Even so, Tillis would not call for Lutnick’s resignation.
“I’m not going to talk about his job, but I think he would do himself a service by just laying out exactly what and what did not happen over the course of their, what seems to be an interesting relationship,” he told reporters.
On Wednesday, House Republicans had their opportunity to defend a Cabinet secretary when Attorney General Pam Bondi appeared before the House Judiciary Committee. She came the morning after news broke that her Justice Department prosecutors failed to get indictments against six Democrats for a video they released last year discussing troops’ ability to disobey illegal orders from superior officers.
Her session also came in the wake of the department’s failure to adhere to a nearly unanimously approved law last year calling for the release of all files for federal investigations into Epstein.
Bondi received a warm welcome from House Republicans.
“What a difference a year makes. The DOJ has returned to its core missions — upholding the rule of law, going after the bad guys and keeping Americans safe,” said Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), the committee’s chair.
Massie is on the committee and clashed with Bondi over the Epstein files.
The attorney general dismissed him, calling him a “failed politician” with “Trump derangement syndrome,” meaning an irrational hatred of the president.
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