The Senate on Wednesday permitted a decision opposing President Donald Trump’s tariffs on imports from Canada hours after his occasion championing “Liberation Day.”
4 Republicans – Sens. Rand Paul and Mitch McConnell, of Kentucky; Susan Collins, of Maine; and Lisa Murkowski, of Alaska, sided with Democrats in voting for a decision that may repeal the emergency declaration that permitted Trump to levy taxes on Canada by citing lethal fentanyl flowing throughout the border. The measure, launched by Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., handed the higher chamber of Congress by a 51-48 vote.
The decision possible gained’t survive the GOP-controlled Home, however its passage was a small victory for Democrats on the lookout for their finest assault line earlier than the midterms.
WHAT IS TRUMP’S NEW LIBERATION DAY AND WHAT TO EXPECT APRIL 2?
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., talks with reporters after the Senate luncheon within the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Name, Inc through Getty Photographs)
Paul defended his determination to cross occasion strains in a speech on the Senate flooring through which he quoted American revolutionary James Otis in saying, “Taxation without representation is tyranny.” The senator mentioned it was that longstanding precept that originated from the Magna Carta that sparked the American revolution and was integrated into the Structure by the Founding Fathers.
“And yet today, we are here before the Senate because one person in our country wishes to raise taxes,” Paul mentioned. “Well, this is contrary to everything our country was founded upon. One person is not allowed to raise tax. The Constitution forbids it.”
Paul mentioned the Founding Fathers “so feared the power of taxation that they gave it only to Congress.”
“I stand against the idea of skipping democracy, of skipping the constitutional republic, of rejecting our founding principles, not because I have any animus towards the president,” Paul mentioned. “I do this because I love my country, and I want to see the division of power enabled such that it protects us all from the amalgamation of power into one person such that it can be abused. Another name for emergency rule is martial law.”
President Donald Trump throughout a Make America Rich Once more occasion within the Rose Backyard of the White Home on Wednesday April 2, 2025. (Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Submit through Getty Photographs)
“This is a tax, plain and simple,” he mentioned of Trump’s Canada tariffs. “Taxes should not be enacted by one person. So I will vote today to end the emergency. I will vote today to try to reclaim the power of taxation, the power of the tariff, to where the Constitution designated it should properly be, and that is in Congress.”
Trump known as out Paul, McConnell, Collins and Murkowski in a submit to Fact Social early Wednesday, saying that the 4 would hopefully “get on the Republican bandwagon, for a change, and fight the Democrats wild and flagrant push to not penalize Canada for the sale, into our Country, of large amounts of Fentanyl, by Tariffing the value of this horrible and deadly drug in order to make it more costly to distribute and buy.”
THESE ARE THE ‘DIRTY 15’ COUNTRIES TRUMP MIGHT TARGET WITH LIBERATION DAY TARIFFS
“They are playing with the lives of the American people, and right into the hands of the Radical Left Democrats and Drug Cartels,” Trump wrote. “The Senate Bill is just a ploy of the Dems to show and expose the weakness of certain Republicans, namely these four, in that it is not going anywhere because the House will never approve it and I, as your President, will never sign it. Why are they allowing Fentanyl to pour into our Country unchecked, and without penalty. What is wrong with them, other than suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome, commonly known as TDS?”
The president mentioned the 4 Republicans have been “extremely difficult to deal with” and “unbelievably disloyal” to Senate Majority Chief John Thune, R-S.D.
President Donald Trump indicators two government orders throughout a Make America Rich Once more occasion within the White Home Rose Backyard on Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Submit through Getty Photographs)
The Democratic Occasion has been battling an id disaster since November’s election resulted in Republicans controlling each chambers of Congress and the White Home.
As Democrats strategized on emphasize Republican inside divisions, Kaine used one of many few methods the minority occasion might drive a flooring vote. Congress has the authority to overturn emergency resolutions.
The measure opposing Trump’s tariffs on Canada handed hours after the president hosted a “Make America Wealthy Again” occasion through which he introduced an government order instituting “reciprocal tariffs” on varied nations.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
“In the face of unrelenting economic warfare, the United States can no longer continue with a policy of unilateral economic surrender. We cannot pay the deficits of Canada, Mexico, and so many other countries. We used to do it. We can’t do it anymore. We take care of countries all over the world,” Trump mentioned. “But we have to take care of our people, and we’re going to take care of our people first.”
“Right this moment we’re standing up for the American employee, and we’re lastly placing America first,” he added.
