This was supposed to be the quiet time on Capitol Hill, but Congress returns to work Monday facing a showdown in the House over immigration while Senate Republicans are trying to stop an all-out trade war after President Donald Trump’s decision to impose import tariffs on close US allies. “We’ll see. I’m hopeful we can do this in a cooperative fashion, but we’ve got lots of tools available”.
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As president, Donald Trump has insulted U.S. allies and top Republicans, threatened nuclear war on Twitter, shared top-secret intelligence with Russian Federation, and pushed immigration policies that are ripping apart families and damaging the US’s image overseas.
“These kinds of tariffs are a big mistake, and using national security as an excuse is a bigger mistake”, said Lamar Alexander, the Republican from Tennessee, who has voted in support of Trump more than 94% of the time in the past”.
‘When you can just name anything as a national security issue then basically you undermine the whole trade agreement process, ‘ Corker said Tuesday.
Voters in California will go to the polls in the state’s primary election on Tuesday with a large number of first-time women candidates on the ballot. “We’re going to be relentless in pushing to prevent the Republican rate hikes that are set to land just before Election Day”.
Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., who attended a closed-door classified briefing on the matter, said the Federal Bureau of Investigation did what it was supposed to do.
And for the immigration hard-liners, like Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), there’s no compromise to be had. Conservatives are opposed to creating a new pathway to staying in the USA permanently, equating it with granting amnesty to lawbreakers.
The defense bill is must-pass legislation, but the fate of the tariff measure is uncertain. Topping the agenda is passage of the annual defense bill, which includes pay raises for the troops. The bill also drew backing from Sens.
“Tariffs are the constitutional responsibility of Congress”.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce quickly endorsed the proposal, saying “this modest proposal to clarify congressional prerogatives is welcome and long overdue”.
But Ryan hinted Wednesday at the difficulty of Congress reining in Trump’s trade authority. Corker wasted little time in jumping in to craft his proposal.
Several lawmakers have said justifying tariffs on national security grounds was hurting USA credibility and inviting retaliation that would hurt an otherwise solid economy.
U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., another co-sponsor, said “tariffs are taxes on American consumers”. It would apply to all actions known as Section 232 moving forward, as well as all those taken in the past two years.
“You’d have to pass a [bill] that he would want to sign into law and that would be what it would take”, the Wisconsin Republican told reporters. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, the chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
Trump gave no indication Wednesday he would soften his stance.
“We are 51% of the population and there is something fundamentally wrong with that and we are never going to get to true equality unless we have equal representation”.
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Today, Republican and Democratic Senators are about to introduce a bill to force Trump to obtain congressional approval.
