During debate on the House floor, Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) tore into House Republican leadership for changing the rules of the House calendar and refusal to take up a vote on President Donald Trump's tariff policies.
Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:
https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript
Stay Connected
Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes
More From Forbes: http://forbes.com
Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:
https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript
Stay Connected
Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes
More From Forbes: http://forbes.com
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Myself, such time as they may consume.
00:03A few minutes ago, I laid out how Donald Trump's tariffs are causing chaos and hurting families.
00:10And I want to explain why we are unable to force a vote to block them here in the House,
00:15even though the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the National Emergencies Act
00:21provide a process to terminate national emergencies through a privileged joint resolution.
00:26So I have a parliamentary inquiry, Mr. Speaker.
00:30The gentleman will stage his inquiry.
00:34Mr. Speaker, the House Rules Manual says here, and I quote,
00:40A privileged motion to discharge a committee from further consideration of a joint resolution
00:46terminating an emergency is available after the measure has been referred to committee for 15 calendar days.
00:53And a member of this House, Ranking Member Meeks, introduced House Joint Resolution 72,
01:01terminating the national emergency, imposing tariffs on Canada 34 days ago.
01:07And earlier, I offered a motion to discharge his joint resolution from committee and bring it to the floor.
01:13Why wasn't it allowed?
01:23Is the gentleman asking me?
01:24Yes.
01:24The gentleman's inquiry is not relevant to the current proceedings.
01:29Well, what I'm just trying to figure out is whether it is in order in the House to move to discharge House Resolution 72
01:36or H.J. Res. 73 from committee so they can be considered on the floor.
01:42And I guess we're not going to get an answer.
01:45But it wasn't allowed because Republicans changed how time itself works in the House
01:51to prevent a vote on tariffs that is allowed under the law.
01:55I just want to be clear here, Mr. Speaker, because the stakes are very high.
01:59We're talking about whether this House has the authority under the current rules
02:03to stop the President of the United States from imposing disastrous, calamitous tariffs
02:09that are causing economic chaos, raising prices for regular Americans,
02:15and causing uncertainty for businesses.
02:17A motion to discharge Ranking Member Meek's resolution is not allowed
02:24because Republicans literally changed the definition of what a day is
02:29to protect themselves from voting on tariffs.
02:33Now, we should have been able to call it up after 15 days.
02:36But Republicans are pretending 34 days is less than 15 days.
02:42Republicans rigged the rules to protect Donald Trump, Mr. Speaker,
02:46and to protect themselves from voting on his tariffs.
02:50House Resolution 211, which the Republican majority adopted in March,
02:55changed the operation of the calendar.
02:58Mr. Speaker, a further parliamentary inquiry?
03:01Gentlemen, State Inquiry.
03:04I have the resolution in front of me, and it says that each day for the remainder
03:09of the first session of the 119th Congress shall not constitute a calendar day
03:14for purposes of Section 202 of the National Emergencies Act
03:18with respect to a joint resolution terminating a national emergency
03:22declared by the President on February 1, 2025.
03:26So that resolution changed the operation of the National Emergencies Act
03:30and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act,
03:34also known as the law, to make sure that members of this House
03:39cannot force a vote on Trump's tariffs.
03:43Is that right, Mr. Speaker?
03:45This inquiry is not relevant to the discussion.
03:48In fact, that is right, Mr. Speaker.
03:50You might not want to opine on it, but the truth is Republicans rigged the rules
03:55to prevent a vote on these tariffs,
03:57a vote that members of this body would have been able to demand
04:00if we were following the law.
04:03Now, I want to get to the bottom of why we can't vote on these tariffs.
04:06So, Mr. Speaker, I have a further parliamentary inquiry.
04:09General, State Inquiry.
04:10The National Emergencies Act states that a joint resolution
04:13to terminate a national emergency passed by one House
04:17shall be referred to the appropriate committees of the other House,
04:21at which point the 15-day clock would start
04:25if Republicans hadn't magically stopped time.
04:27According to that provision in law, Senator Cain of Virginia's resolution
04:32terminating the national emergency to impose tariffs on Canada,
04:36which was adopted by the Senate last week, in a bipartisan vote.
04:42But according to that, that bill must be referred to the committee.
04:49Is that correct, Mr. Speaker?
04:50The gentleman's inquiry is, again, not relevant to the proceedings before the House.
04:57Well, it's, you know, it's not relevant to the discussion
05:03because Republicans won't let us discuss the tariffs.
05:06You know, but that's certainly how I read Shell, Mr. Speaker.
05:10But Senator Cain's resolution to force a vote on Trump's tariffs
05:14has been sitting on Speaker Johnson's desk since last week.
05:18And, Mr. Speaker, if a measure is held at the Speaker's desk,
05:22it's not subject to a discharge petition,
05:25and we can't have an up-or-down vote on these tariffs.
05:27So the Speaker of the House right now is single-handedly
05:30preventing members from forcing a vote on these tariffs.
05:34Again, a right that is in the law.
05:37Further parliamentary inquiry, Mr. Speaker.
05:39Gentleman, state his inquiry.
05:41I just want to make sure I understand this, Mr. Speaker.
05:43Why are Republicans rigging the rules to prevent a vote on Trump's tariffs?
05:50A proper parliamentary inquiry.
05:52Well, Mr. Speaker, you might not want to answer,
05:54and you might not like that I'm pointing it out,
05:56but that's exactly what's happening here.
05:59Republicans have rigged the rules by literally redefining the definition of a day
06:04to prevent us from voting on Trump's tariffs.
06:06And the Speaker of the House is locking the Senate resolution in his desk.
06:12These are the types of procedural tricks that Republicans try to bury in the rules
06:16and hope that no one ever notices
06:18because they're too confusing or too in the weeds.
06:22Not only did we notice, Mr. Speaker,
06:25but we are going to make sure that the American people notice too.
06:29And one way or the other,
06:30the American people are going to render a verdict
06:32on what is happening here in this chamber.
06:34And if it doesn't happen on this floor,
06:37you can be damn sure it's going to happen at the ballot box.
06:40These tariffs are going to be a disaster.
06:43And the fact that Republicans are too scared,
06:46too scared to stand up and vote for or against them
06:50just proves my point.
06:52This is a disgrace.
06:54I mean, this is the people's house.
06:56We're supposed to debate serious issues on this floor.
07:00And the Republicans' leadership of this house
07:02is rigging the rules, so we can't do that.
07:06That is absurd.
07:07And that is a national disgrace.
07:09I reserve.
07:10Tell me, sir.