Vice President JD Vance joined Senate Republicans Tuesday with a directive: Don’t break with the president.
By evening, five Republicans had broken ranks and joined Democrats to vote to reject the national emergency declaration Trump used to impose 50% tariffs on Brazil.
“Emergencies are like war, famine, tornado,” Sen. Rand Paul told reporters ahead of the vote on the resolution he cosponsored with Democrats. “Not liking someone’s tariffs is not an emergency. It’s an abuse of the emergency power, and it’s Congress abdicating their traditional role in taxes.”