Senators introduce bipartisan bill to limit Trump on tariffs
As markets around the world slumped and other countries plotted retaliation in reaction to President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs, Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley and Democrat Maria Cantwell introduced bipartisan legislation Thursday that would require Congress to approve new tariffs.
And House Democrats are preparing to try to force a vote to terminate the tariffs.
Reaction to the tariffs and their fallout was predictably split along party lines on Capitol Hill, although some Republicans said they were concerned with how the markets reacted.
The Senate bill would require the president to notify Congress of new tariffs within 48 hours and for Congress to act to approve those tariffs within 60 days.
It’s unclear whether the bill would have the support it needs to pass. But it comes less than a day after four Republicans voted with Democrats to pass a resolution that would block Trump's tariffs on Canadian products.
Cantwell said hers and Grassley’s bill comes at a time when Congress should “reassert itself in our constitutional duties.” She said it was modeled after the War Powers Resolution of 1973 and would “reestablish limits on the president’s authority,” specifically in relation to imposing tariffs without Congress’ approval.
“Congress in the War Powers Act decided to reclaim its authority because they thought a president had overreached,” Cantwell said.
Cantwell and Grassley serve on the Senate Finance Committee. Grassley, a former chairman, has long advocated for reestablishing Congress’ role in trade policy.
In the House, the National Emergencies Act that Trump used to impose new tariffs allows Congress to vote on a resolution of disapproval that would effectively cancel them. Congress will have to vote within 15 days after Trump notifies Congress of the new declaration, Democratic aides told ABC News.
While Republicans could pass a new measure to prevent Congress from stopping Trump's policies, Democrats believe Republicans would pay a greater political price.
"Any rule change will be a vote supporting the President's tariffs," a senior Democratic aide told ABC News.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called the tariffs one of the "dumbest" decisions Trump has made as president, "and that's saying something."
"Donald Trump has singlehandedly created a financial forest fire," Schumer said on the Senate floor.
Schumer called on Speaker Mike Johnson to call the House back into session to take up a Senate-passed resolution that would block tariffs on Canadian goods. Republicans Susan Collins, Mitch McConnell, Lisa Murkowski and Rand Paul voted with Democrats on Wednesday to pass the bill that Paul co-authored with Democrat Tim Kaine.
McConnell on Thursday said "trade wars with our partners hurt working people most."
Asked if Trump had made the right move, Republican Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota said, "We'll find out."
"The one thing we do know is is that the president was very clear that he thinks there should be fair trade agreements with our partners, our friends and our allies," Rounds said. "This is is his first step. Let's find out how they respond."
North Dakota GOP Sen. Kevin Cramer said he was comfortable with where his constituents stood on Trump's tariffs.
"My own constituents voted for this," he said. "It's not like Donald Trump is surprising anybody -- he has signaled his strong support for tariffs from the beginning, he's exercised it in the past, and with that he got 66 percent of the vote in North Dakota, so with this promise they trusted him. So, yeah, I'm comfortable with where my constituents are on it."
And while he said was concerned with how markets reacted, Kramer said longer trends will be more telling.
"Well, you know the market is emotional -- it always has been," Kramer said. "I never look at one day of the market and see a trend, so, you know, we'll see, but I'm hopeful that, like I said, that it finds a bottom and then it then starts finding a ceiling much later."
Democratic Sen. Chris Coons of Rhode Island called the tariffs "insane" and said the rollout was "another thing that is incoherent, poorly planned, and will have significant consequences."
Kaine said that some Republicans who voted against his resolution on Wednesday told him that he wasn't wrong, but they were going to give Trump the benefit of the doubt.
Asked if he thought they might raise their voices as things play out, he said, "I do, because I think they're going to hear from their constituents louder and louder and louder. "They're going to see that it's not going to work, and when it doesn't work I can't imagine that they are going to stand by as, you know, the president pushes our economy into a recession."
-ABC News' Mariam Khan and Rachel Scott contributed to this report.
