The Senate submitted a Bipartisan bill to the floor to rebuke tRump’s trade policy. Bipartisan. That means Democrats and Republicans worked *together* and I think that’s a very big deal. How often do we see *that* happen? The current answer is that bipartisan work is an endangered species in Congress.
The Senate rejected the resolution that would have effectively blocked Trump’s global tariffs by revoking the emergency order the president is using to enact them. Two senators who were set to vote for the resolution, Republican Mitch McConnell and Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse, were absent, allowing the resolution to fail 49-49. Damn. So, so, so close. I’m sure the people who were out had very good reasons for not being there, even though we don’t know the reasons. From CNN:
In his second term, Trump has placed historic tariffs on a wide variety of imports. He’s put a 10% tariff on virtually everything coming into the United States; imposed 25% tariffs on steel, aluminum, autos and many items from Mexico and Canada; and placed a tariff of at least 145% on most Chinese goods imported to the US in by far the most significant trade action to date.
By the way, this nonsense with China is just over the top. He doesn’t seem to care about the businesses or the consumers who won’t be able to get their products. We’re going to have lots of empty shelves soon. Ships are either turning back or not coming at all. That sucks.
“They are so dead set on this tariff idiocy that is wrecking the economy that they’re going to bring the vice president over to completely own it. Great, let them do it. Let them do it,” said Democratic Senator Tim Kaine. “The American public needs to know who to blame for this. And they are showing everybody tonight who is to blame for this.”
Senator Kaine was one of the folks who co-sponsored the bill. GOP Sens. Rand Paul, who cosponsored the resolution, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski voted along with Democrats in support of the resolution, but they were unable to pull together the needed votes to adopt it with the key absences on Wednesday. Again, from CNN:
McConnell would have voted for it had he not been under the weather. “The Senator has been consistent in opposing tariffs and has stated that a trade war is not in the best interest of American households and businesses. He believes that tariffs are a tax increase on everybody,” his spokesman said.
Even if the Senate had been able to pull off the revolution, it would be DOA in the House (of course). Speaker Mike Johnson pulled something very quiet and sneaky. He tucked a resolution into a rule to prohibit consideration of the bill until September. I’m impressed. He actually DID something instead of the usual wringing of his hands trying to please all the caucuses in the House. Apparently, he has balls, very tiny ones, after all. And I’m sure it made the man who PAINTS HIS FACE ORANGE happy for a few milliseconds. Remember that deadlock on passing the bill? Here’s what happened.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune then moved to ensure that tariff opponents were unable to bring their resolution back up at a later date, forcing Vance to go to the US Capitol to put an end to the matter. It marked just the second time the vice president has used his tie-breaking authority.
Well, damn. That was rude. I bet Vance wasn’t too happy about it until he found out *why*. Then he was quite happy to help, even though it was late on Wednesday. But still! It’s good to see the Senate can work together on something and this was pretty damn important to me. It’s a sign that the Senate is finally *seeing* what’s happening with all the destructive Executive Orders. It’s a pity the House isn’t seeing it, too, or not enough people are seeing the devastation. It seems that Republicans are getting *very* good at burying their heads in the sand. It’s called willful blindness. Yet this bipartisan bill gives me hope for the Senate. Now, if the House would see it, we might be able to crack down on the EOs that Agent Orange is happily dashing off every day, well, when he isn’t golfing. Thanks for sticking with me!
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