House Republican leaders maneuvered on Wednesday to spare their members a politically tricky vote on President Trump’s tariffs in the coming months by tucking language into an unrelated measure that would temporarily bar members from using their power under the law to force such a vote.
This is the second time Republicans have deployed the unusual procedural tactic to sideline Congress on trade matters as lawmakers continue to hear panic from constituents and donors about the adverse effects of Mr. Trump’s moves on trade. Last month, they did so as part of a measure needed to bring up a spending bill to prevent a government shutdown.
On Wednesday, Republicans inserted the same kind of language into a measure needed to bring up the G.O.P. budget plan. It was scheduled for a vote later Wednesday afternoon.
The move came just hours before Mr. Trump announced he was pausing most of the reciprocal tariffs he announced last week for 90 days, but it underscored the angst those levies have sown among members of Congress, including many Republicans who could pay a political price for their impacts.
The maneuver effectively deprives lawmakers in both parties who have sponsored legislation to terminate Mr. Trump’s tariffs from forcing their measures to the House floor. The National Emergencies Act allows members of Congress to take such action and have their proposals considered by a committee within 15 days and a floor vote within three days after that. But under the measure being pushed by Republicans, the House would declare the roughly six-month period until Sept. 30 a single calendar day, effectively circumventing that process.
Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters that the measure left Congress with “an appropriate level of authority to deal with unfair trade practices.”
He added: “The role of the president is to negotiate with other countries and other heads of state. And he’s doing that.”
The Senate last week passed a measure invoking the emergencies law to end the tariffs Mr. Trump imposed on Canada in February, and bipartisan groups of lawmakers in both chambers have introduced legislation to do so to terminate the new tariffs that Mr. Trump announced last week. The House Republicans’ maneuver would ensure those efforts fail, at least for now.
Democrats quickly criticized the move as a ceding of congressional authority over tariffs.
“Republicans are already putting in a provision to make sure that they don’t have to vote on the tariffs that are in place,” Representative Suzan DelBene, Democrat of Washington, said during a hearing on Wednesday. “Congress should have a role here. It’s terrible that my colleagues on the other side aren’t willing to have a vote.”
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