Senate Republicans joined Democrats yesterday in a rare rebuke of President Donald Trump and his tariff "trade" agenda. (Expect the stock market to tank.) Via Politico:
Senators voted 51-48 Wednesday to reject the national emergency Trump declared earlier this year to justify his plan to slap 25 percent tariffs on Canadian imports. The vote took place hours after Trump delivered remarks from the White House rolling out his latest plans to slap new tariffs on a wide range of products.
Republican Sens. Susan Collins, Mitch McConnell, Lisa Murkowski and Rand Paul joined all Democrats in backing a resolution from Virginia Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine that would end that national "emergency." Paul, of Kentucky, co-sponsored the measure.
McConnell offered Paul, a fellow Kentuckian, a fist-bump on the chamber floor. They broke out into applause as the gavel went down and closed the vote.
The dissent from this handful of Senate Republicans is purely symbolic: Speaker Mike Johnson has already moved to prevent a floor vote in the House to end the types of national emergencies upon which Trump is relying to levy his tariffs.
Yeah, it's symbolic. But it's still the first major break with Trump from a bunch of Senate Republican asskissers and rubber stamps.
Trump also called Collins, Murkowski, McConnell and Paul to “get on the Republican bandwagon, for a change.” Senate GOP leaders were also aligned against the resolution.
But they still voted no. Even Rand Paul, because his home state of Kentucky is getting hit hard by Canadians boycotting their bourbon.
It's a start.
