Capitol agenda: Tariff tumult roils GOP agenda
President Donald Trump is doubling down on his trade war as global financial markets melt down and economic calamity looms. It's going to be a brutal week ahead for Republican lawmakers who are already on edge about owning the policy and are struggling to unify behind Trump's legislative agenda.
A growing number of Republicans are signing onto bills that would rebuke Trump's tariff strategy, and some are anxious about the lack of direction from the administration.
Look for the rift to grow in the coming days.
Republican Rep. Don Bacon is set to introduce legislation today that would wrest back Congress’ authority to approve tariffs. Rep. David Valadao, a California Republican, is signaling he'll support it. In the Senate, six Republicans have signed onto the companion bill led by Sen. Chuck Grassley.
House Ways and Means Republicans held a private call Friday with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, who is set to testify before Senate Finance Tuesday and Ways and Means on Wednesday. Other Republicans are stressed over not having enough information from the White House, and Speaker Mike Johnson is committing to arranging a briefing from the administration.
The rising economic pressure is making it even more urgent for Republicans to show progress behind Trump's sweeping plans for tax cuts and other legislative priorities.
Johnson on Sunday vowed to push through the budget plan that the Senate adopted last week, even as he faces a growing backlash from fiscal hawks in the House over what they see as insufficient spending cuts. In a private call with Republican lawmakers Sunday, Johnson cited the market upheaval as a reason the House needs to act and not try to revise the Senate plan.
Senior Republicans are already discussing fallback plans, including whether to make changes to the budget and send it back to the Senate or having GOP leaders and committee chairs from both chambers hammer out an agreement in a conference meeting.
What else we’re watching:
— Proxy voting agreement: Johnson and Rep. Anna Paulina Luna found a solution to their standoff over allowing new mothers to vote by proxy, the Florida representative said in a post on X Sunday — opening up the House floor to take up the budget resolution later in the week.
— Coming in House Rules: The committee will have a meeting today at 4 p.m. to tee up floor consideration of bills that would require proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections, restrict district court judges from issuing nationwide injunctions and undo Biden-era CFPB rules after the bills were held up from a failed rule vote last week.
— More Trump picks: The Senate will continue working through Trump’s nominations later this week, including George Glass’ nomination to be ambassador to Japan and Mike Huckabee’s nomination to be ambassador to Israel.
Meredith Lee Hill and Benjamin Guggenheim contributed to this report.