After successfully engineering a rare rebuke of President Donald Trump, Senate Democrats want to do it again: They’re eyeing a new measure that could splinter Republicans and potentially undo the sweeping tariffs Trump rolled out Wednesday.
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), who led the push to undo Trump’s Canada tariffs that won approval Wednesday, said it was “likely” that Democrats would move forward with legislation taking aim at the new, more sweeping levies. The vote, he said, wouldn’t occur until after the Senate returns from a two-week recess slated to start on April 11.
One of the laws Trump used to levy the latest tariffs, the National Emergencies Act, allows Congress to quickly debate and vote on a disapproval resolution that would effectively cancel the tariffs. But actually doing so faces major obstacles: Not only would the Senate have to act, but the GOP-controlled House would have to approve the same measure. Trump could then still veto it, forcing a two-thirds-majority override vote.
Democrats are still poring through Trump’s latest round of sweeping tariffs to determine which ones they could potentially target for cancellation. But Kaine said he believed support for rolling back the new tariffs will only grow with time. Four Republicans joined Democrats on Wednesday’s vote, and he predicted a “larger universe” of support for the forthcoming measure.
“I think people need to go home and hear what their constituents are telling them, so I think having it timed so that it comes up over recess is the right time,” Kaine said.
Separately, Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York — the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee — said Wednesday he would introduce a similar measure. Speaker Mike Johnson led an effort to block a vote on a Meeks-led disapproval resolution targeting the Canada tariffs last month and could do so again for the new round of tariffs.