Republicans Could Stop Trump’s Tariffs, But Keep Voting to Make Themselves Powerless

If Congress wanted to push back against President Donald Trump’s tariffs, it could have done so at any time by voting to end the White House’s declaration of a national emergency, which, Trump claims, grants him sweeping trade powers. But Republicans have repeatedly ceded their authority over trade to the executive branch using sneaky and sometimes bizarre legislative maneuvers to avoid voting on one of the administration’s most controversial policies. 

Earlier this week, House Republicans passed the latest measure to effectively prevent members from challenging Trump’s unpopular global tariff regime, suspending until March 31, 2026 a section of the law that dictates how Congress can terminate a president’s declaration of a national emergency. In recent months, House Republicans have accomplished something similar through an even more creative means: redefining the term “calendar day,” so far as it applies to Congress’ ability to vote on national emergencies, to last many months. (Any resolution to terminate a national emergency must be brought to the floor within 15 days of being introduced; the maneuver effectively lets Congress avoid any such a vote indefinitely.) A House Democratic aide speculated to TPM that, for procedural reasons, House Republicans could not use their “calendar day” trick again. 

Voiding their constitutional ability to regulate trade through such creative means is yet another way congressional Republicans are further empowering Trump specifically and the executive branch in general, while giving away their own authority. As tariffs push inflation up month after month and economists sound the alarm about the economic calamity they expect from the U.S. effective tariff rate reaching nearly 19% — its highest since the Great Depression — Republican leaders in the House are rendering themselves powerless.

“The only bulwark left is for Congress itself to stand up and assert its authority — but for political reasons, those that are in power in Congress either are unwilling or unable to do so,” Daniel Schuman, executive director at the American Governance Institute, a good government group, told TPM. “And so when the president asserts that he can use authorities in unprecedented ways — which is another way of saying he can do things that are illegal because no one can force him to stop doing those things — that is simply what’s happening at all fronts.”

Since President Trump first telegraphed he would invoke emergency powers to issue his sweeping global tariffs, lawmakers have repeatedly suspended their ability to terminate the emergency until a given date. The House passed such measures in March and again in April; the April measure froze the calendar until Sept. 30, 2025. The latest suspension was a response to a measure introduced by Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY) on Tuesday, which sought to address tariffs the White House recently imposed on Brazil. 

After voting down Meeks’ proposal, Republicans moved to block any further challenges to Trump’s tariffs until March 2026. By that point, the Supreme Court will likely have ruled on whether the president can continue using emergency powers in this way. If the Court says no, congressional Republicans will be off the hook for blocking the president themselves. 

“Democrats came to the floor ready to end these cost-raising tariffs,” Rep. John B. Larson (D-CT) said of Meeks’ proposal, “but Republicans stood with Donald Trump against their constituents.”

Tuesday’s bill passed 213-211 largely along party lines, with three Republicans  — Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-CA), Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-IN) — voting with Democrats to oppose the measure. More Republicans balked at the measure, but were reportedly whipped into yes votes thanks to two promises from Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), including the creation of a tariffs working group, The New York Times reported. Politico reported some members switched their no votes after GOP leaders pledged to allow the House to take up the issue in January, rather than the end of March.

The lion’s share of Trump’s tariffs have been levied under authority that he has asserted himself to have under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA. The act allows the president to “investigate, regulate, or prohibit” foreign transactions, bank credits and payments involving foreign entities, and certain imports and exports. Those provisions have historically been used as a sanctioning mechanism, and have never been used for tariff powers.

Trump’s IEEPA tariffs could be overturned after two lower courts ruled the act doesn’t extend tariff powers, which are constitutionally granted to Congress, to the executive branch. The Supreme Court has agreed to hear the administration’s appeal.

The case was brought by a coalition of small businesses arguing that Congress is the only body with tariff powers. Yet as it winds through the courts, Republican members of Congress are voluntarily ceding those powers to the executive branch.

Congress has also watered down its own power of the purse, staying almost entirely silent on various tactics the executive branch has used to impound funds. One such maneuver saw $4.9 billion Congress had already appropriated for foreign aid snatched back. The Government Accountability Office, a legislative branch watchdog agency, has repeatedly found the White House’s refusal to spend appropriated funds to be illegal.

“It’s an accelerating of existing trends in a way that is inimical to our democracy,” said Schuman. “It’s incredibly dangerous and it undermines the role of our system of separation of powers.”

Lawmakers in the Senate in April passed a measure to end Trump’s emergency declaration which levied tariffs on Canada. A bipartisan companion measure co-sponsored by Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE), however, stalled in the House. 

In addition to California Republican Kiley, two other California Republicans representatives, Jay Obernolte and Tom McClintock, initially voted no on the latest measure but later flipped. According to the most recent Consumer Price Index released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, West Coast states in general, and California metropolitan areas specifically, have higher rates of inflation than the 2.9% national urban average. 

“If we’re saying that Congress is not going to be able to assert itself on this issue,” Kiley reportedly said after his “no” vote, “that in my view is a problem.”

In an April press release about his proposal “to return Congress’ constitutionally authorized” tariffs powers, Bacon highlighted the checks and balances Congress is meant to have on the president.

“This is less about the actual tariffs laid by the Trump Administration, some of which I support because they are reciprocal, but more a commitment to uphold the Constitution,” Bacon said at the time. On Tuesday, he voted to block his own ability to challenge Trump’s tariffs.