Republicans Give Up Power to DJT to Avoid a Vote on Tariffs

After Democrats introduced a resolution to end to the national emergency declarations Donald Trump uses to enact tariffs on his own, Republicans avoided the legal requirement to vote on the resolution by changing Congressional rules to declare the remainder of 2025 is a single continuous legislative day.

Trump is able to impose, revoke and change tariffs on his own with no notice or debate because of Presidential powers that are temporarily granted by declaration of a national emergency. The laws that apply are:

• International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA)
• National Emergencies Act (NEA)
• Section 604 of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended
• Section 301 of title 3, United States Code

Congress has the power to terminate a national emergency the President has declared. This is done through a joint resolution. As the resolution goes through committees to the floor, there are 15 day deadlines by which votes must be taken and a 6 day deadline for conference committee work to resolve any differences between the House and Senate versions.

Although Trump’s tariffs are extremely unpopular domestically and are causing other countries to radically cut down on their trade with the USA, Republicans are unwilling to put votes against it on the record and incur his wrath.

To get around the legally required timeline for processing the national emergency termination resolutions put forward by Democrats, the Republican majority in Congress changed its rules to declare the rest of this year is a single day for purposes of the legislative calendar for the resolution to end the national economic emergency.

Click here for basic details.

Click here for an explanation of how Presidential emergency declarations, Congressional resolutions to end a declared emergency, and legislative timelines work.