(WASHINGTON) — House Republicans are exhausting all legislative tools to prevent future votes on repealing President Donald Trump’s tariffs — doubling down on their support for the administration’s policies.
GOP leaders on Wednesday inserted language into the “rule” for the budget blueprint that would prohibit the House, until at least September, from forcing a vote on legislation to rescind Trump’s national emergencies authority.
“The rule provides that each day during the period from April 9, 2025, through September 30, 2025, shall not constitute a calendar day for purposes of section 202 of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1622) with respect to a joint resolution terminating a national emergency declared by the President on April 2, 2025,” the rule states.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., defended the move, telling reporters, “I’ve made it very clear I think the president has executive authority. It’s an appropriate level of authority to deal with the unfair trade practices. That’s part of the role of the president is to negotiate with other countries.”
Johnson said Trump told him Tuesday night that “there are almost 70 countries that are [in] some stage in negotiation of more fair-trade agreement agreements with the United States. I think that is in the interest of the American people. I think that is an ‘America First’ policy that will be effective, and so we have to give them the space to do it.”
House Democrats, led by Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., moved to force a vote on Tuesday on terminating the national emergency authority and blocking Trump’s sweeping tariffs. Now, that vote is unlikely to occur.
This is the second time Johnson has moved to stop the legislative calendar to prevent votes on Trump’s authority on tariffs. Under House rules, these votes would typically come up within 15 calendar days but now will not if the “rule” passes during the vote series Wednesday afternoon.
“I think you’ve got to give him the space,” Johnson argued on Trump’s tariffs. “It is having the desired effect right now. You see a number of nations going forward and proposing much more free trade agreements with the United States. The American people deserve that.”
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