Fast Fun Facts Follow-Up. Trump Emergencies.
April 6, 2025.
On February 6, 1974, the House voted 410-4 authorizing the
Judiciary Committee to consider impeachment proceedings against President
Nixon.
In July, the Committee voted 27-11 to pass Articles of
Impeachment. Six of seventeen Republicans voted aye. Nixon resigned on August
9, before the full House began deliberations. Technically, he was never
impeached.
Efforts followed quickly to constrain what was seen as
overly expansive presidential power. A sweeping series of reforms were enacted
to reshape the balance of power.
Among those reforms was the National Emergencies Act of
1976, which formalized the process for presidents to declare national
emergencies, required the president to report to Congress to justify the
declaration of an emergency, and provided Congress the ability to end the
emergency.
Trump’s
emergencies.
On April 2, 2025, President Trump declared a national
emergency under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 (IEEPA).
“Using his IEEPA authority, President Trump will impose a
10% tariff on all countries,” a White House announcement said. He “will impose
an individualized reciprocal higher tariff on the countries with which the
United States has the largest trade deficits.”
Starting with President Wilson in 1917, ninety national
emergencies have been declared in the last 108 years. Trump has declared seven in
less than three months, including three on inauguration day.
The Constitution grants Congress the right to impose
tariffs. Congress delegated that right to the president in circumstances that “threaten
to impair the national security,” or that “burden or restrict” the US commerce.
In either scenario Congress outlined procedural requirements before tariffs
would take effect.
Trump does not acknowledge that last part. “Trump’s decision
to use IEEPA is certainly more expedient, but it is also a novel application of
that law and an end run around the process specifically set up by Congress to
authorize presidential tariff authority,” according to an article in Lawfare.
See the link in the Notes for a great analysis.
Congressional
reaction.
The Republican controlled Congress has so far acceded to
Trump’s every wish with nary a whimper. But a handful of Senators have voiced
concern about the tariffs.
“For too long, Congress has delegated its clear authority to
regulate interstate and foreign commerce to the executive branch,” Senator
Chuck Grassley (R-IA) said in a statement last week.
Might tariffs be the line in the sand that causes Republicans to stand up to Trump? Probably not.
Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) said
workers in his state are, “absolutely thrilled,” with the tariffs. Most
Republicans are toeing the same line.
And it may not matter. The Lawfare article concludes that neither
Congress nor the courts are likely to overturn the new tariffs.
Paraphrasing the concerns Congressman Jonathan Bingham
(D-NY) voiced in 1976, the article says, “Trump is using IEEPA as a source of ‘unlimited
power … to act virtually at will’—the very thing IEEPA was meant to prevent.”
Notes.
https://watergate.info/impeachment/articles-of-impeachment/
https://www.americanprogress.org/article/lessons-from-watergate/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_national_emergencies_in_the_United_States
https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/are-tariffs-an-emergency-power
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5231295-trump-tariffs-reaction-republicans/
https://apnews.com/article/trump-tariffs-republicans-senate-house-2409e9ff50290edac738ad6e4e8e78b9
https://www.newsweek.com/tariffs-donald-trump-republican-critics-full-list-2055640
And Johnson has and will do all in his power to squash the weak pushback from the House.
ReplyDelete6 Senate R have spoken out, including Tillis and Grassley. I am not aware of any House R voicing opposition. Thanks.
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