Randy Fine, Republican U.S. representative from Florida, ripped into GOP Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky over the senator’s efforts to block President Donald Trump from wielding “emergency” powers on tariffs.
Newsweek reached out to Paul’s office via email Wednesday for comment.
Why It Matters
Stock markets dipped, and experts warned of a possible recession after Trump’s flip-flops on tariffs in recent weeks. The president threatened that the United States would impose tariffs on more than 180 countries and a 10 percent “baseline” tariff on all imports.
Following pushback from a number of Republicans and advisers, Trump reversed course and announced on social media that he was issuing a 90-day pause and a “substantially” lower reciprocal tariff rate of 10 percent. Stocks immediately took off following the announcement.
Trump has also suffered a slide in the polls in recent weeks, as more Americans have seemingly soured on his handling of the economy and other key policies like immigration.
What To Know
Paul, an outspoken critic of Trump’s tariff plans, has positioned himself sharply against the leader of his party by cosponsoring a bill aimed to thwart the president from using emergency powers to implement tariffs.
Paul pushes back on the notion of Trump using the tariffs due to an “emergency” and the economic fears associated with the levies.
“We torched Biden for abusing emergency powers during COVID. Now some Republicans want to do the same thing? If tyranny is wrong in blue, it’s still wrong in red,” the Republican lawmaker posted to X, formerly Twitter, on Wednesday.
Reacting to the bill, Fine spoke with CNN on Wednesday, saying, “If Rand Paul wants to get together with Bernie Sanders to fight Donald Trump, well, that’s on him. I know that I’m here to fight Democrats, not to work with Democrats to undermine … what President Trump is trying to do.”
Fine said trade policy has been unfair for decades and he appreciates the president for “standing up and fighting back.”
Paul, however, on Tuesday highlighted Trump’s 100th day in office, saying on X: “100 days of cutting government waste, securing the border, pursuing peace abroad, and simply restoring sanity to the American people.”
What People Are Saying
Democratic Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, in a press release earlier this month: “Trump is driving our economy into a recession, killing jobs and wiping out seniors’ retirement funds as we speak.
Enough is enough. No president should have the power to tax everything Americans buy without being accountable to Congress. Unless Republicans join with Democrats and take back Congress’s power over trade policy, the damage could take years to reverse.”
Trump posted to Truth Social on Wednesday: “This is Biden’s Stock Market, not Trump’s. I didn’t take over until January 20th. Tariffs will soon start kicking in, and companies are starting to move into the USA in record numbers. Our Country will boom, but we have to get rid of the Biden ‘Overhang.’ This will take a while, has NOTHING TO DO WITH TARIFFS, only that he left us with bad numbers, but when the boom begins, it will be like no other. BE PATIENT!!!”
What Happens Next
The Senate will likely vote on the bill Wednesday night and Paul told CNN’s Manu Raju that he expects to garner enough votes. It is unlikely however, for the House to take up the resolution.
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