One of the Senate’s most powerful Republicans seemed to take a page out of Rachel Maddow’s playbook Thursday by attempting to claw back some of Congress’ power over tariffs.
Chuck Grassley, the 91-year-old senior Republican senator from Iowa, jointly introduced a measure Thursday with Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington to ensure Congress has a say in the president’s tariff decisions. He is the president pro tempore of the chamber, making him the presiding officer and second-in-command behind the vice-president.
The measure lists that Congress would need to be notified “no later than 48 hours” of a tariff imposition or increase by the president. Moreover, Trump would also need to submit an “explanation of the reasoning for imposing or increasing the duty” and an assessment of the imposition’s impact.
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Congress would then have 60 days to approve any new tariffs, and would also have the power to end any tariff when necessary.
“Congress has a constitutional role through the Commerce Clause on trade matters, and we should reassume that role,” Grassley told reporters in a press call Tuesday, according to Politico. Meanwhile Republican Senator Thom Tillis similarly told reporters Thursday that Congress should have more of a say in Trump’s tariff decisions and said, “I think there’s something to be said for having congressional review.”
The proposal came just hours after MSNBC host Rachel Maddow laid out a similar plan during her monologue Wednesday night, urging Congress to reassert control over the country’s tariff decisions.
“The actual way to stop this dictatorship mid-catastrophe, the way to stop this part of Trump’s one-man wrecking-ball operation against the U.S. economy is for Congress to do something very simple, for Congress to simply declare with a simple majority vote that actually there isn’t an emergency,” Maddow said, referring to how Trump invoked the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 while announcing tariffs on global trade partners Wednesday.
“Yes, Trump proclaimed an economic emergency. That’s how he gave himself these emergency powers,” Maddow continued. “But Congress could simply just say, ‘Actually, no, there isn’t an economic emergency. So no, he no longer has these powers. He is no longer empowered to singlehandedly drunk-drive our country into this particular wall.’ They could do that.”
Maddow’s plan was partially employed by the Senate Wednesday after four Republican senators—Susan Collins, Mitch McConnell, Lisa Murkowski, and Rand Paul—joined Democrats to pass a resolution rescinding the White House’s emergency declaration on Canada.
The anchor acknowledged however that the plan is likely to not come to fruition, as House Speaker Mike Johnson moved to prevent a floor vote that would have ended the many national emergencies Trump has employed to impose tariffs.
“In other words, there is a cure to this disease. There is a readily available, dramatically effective, proven legal antidote to this poison, and Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson grabbed it out of our hands and flushed it down the toilet to make sure we can never take it, so Donald Trump can keep doing this to the economy,” Maddow said. “Are you tired of all the winning?”
On Wednesday, Trump announced sweeping tariffs on several of the United States’ biggest trading partners, including the European Union and China. Several countries have since announced retaliatory tariffs, with the prospect of a full-scale, global trade war quickly becoming a reality.
