Davin News Server

Seeing this train coming down the tracks, Mikey Johnson has magically 
turned 1 year into 1 day so it'll never get a vote in the House. (I'm 
serious)


Republicans Quietly Cede Power to Cancel Trump's Tariffs, Avoiding a Tough Vote
House G.O.P. leaders tucked the provision into a procedural measure 
needed to pass a government spending bill.
By Catie Edmondson
The New York Times
Reporting from the Capitol
Published March 11, 2025
Updated March 13, 2025

House Republican leaders on Tuesday quietly moved to shield their 
members from having to vote on whether to end President Trump's tariffs 
on Mexico, Canada and China, tucking language into a procedural measure 
that effectively removed their chamber's ability to undo the levies.

The maneuver was a tacit acknowledgment of how politically toxic the 
issue had become for their party, and another example of how the 
all-Republican Congress is ceding its power to the executive branch.

In this case, Republican leaders did so using a particularly unusual 
contortion: They essentially declared the rest of the year one long 
day, nullifying a law that allows the House and Senate to jointly put 
an end to a disaster declared by the president.

House Democrats had planned to force a vote on resolutions to end the 
tariffs on Mexico and Canada, a move allowed under the National 
Emergencies Act, which provides a mechanism for Congress to terminate 
an emergency like the one Mr. Trump declared when he imposed the 
tariffs on Feb. 1.

That would have forced Republicans -- many of whom are opposed to 
tariffs as a matter of principle -- to go on the record on the issue at 
a time when Mr. Trump's commitment to tariffs has spooked the financial 
markets and spiked concerns of reigniting inflation.

But Republican leaders on Tuesday slipped language into a procedural 
measure that would prevent any resolution to end the tariffs on Mexico, 
Canada and China from receiving a vote this year. It passed on party 
lines as part of a resolution that cleared the way for a vote later 
Tuesday on a government spending bill needed to prevent a shutdown at 
the end of the week.

The national emergency law lays out a fast-track process for Congress 
to consider a resolution ending a presidential emergency, requiring 
committee consideration within 15 calendar days after one is introduced 
and a floor vote within three days after that. But the language House 
Republicans inserted in their measure on Tuesday declared that, "Each 
day for the remainder of the 119th Congress shall not constitute a 
calendar day" for the purposes of the emergency that Mr. Trump declared 
on Feb. 1.

Democrats jeered the maneuver.

"The speaker is petrified that members of this House will actually have 
to take a vote on lowering costs on the American people," said 
Representative Greg Meeks, Democrat of New York, who introduced the 
privileged resolution. "If Congress can't act to lower prices, protect 
retirement savings and hold the president accountable, what are we even 
doing here?"

Democrats in the Senate could still try to force a vote to end the 
tariffs, putting Republicans in that chamber in a tough spot. But in 
order to terminate the levies, a resolution would have to pass both 
chambers and be signed by Mr. Trump.

Ana Swanson contributed reporting.

Catie Edmondson covers Congress for The Times.