Welcome to Washington: Trump Declares War, So To Speak, on the House of Representatives

In the coming days and weeks, all eyes will turn to the United States Senate, where lawmakers will debate serious issues — funding for the Department of Homeland Security, a voter identification bill, and major housing legislation. With little left to do until the midterm elections, House Republicans, meanwhile, are left twiddling their thumbs, though that isn’t stopping President Trump from kicking off his retribution campaign. Welcome to Washington, where House members are scheduled to work for only 74 days between now and the midterms on November 3. That’s less than 30 percent of the total days remaining in the lead-up to Mr. Trump’s final midterm competition. This past week, the president decided to declare war, so to speak, on at least one vulnerable ally in Congress’s lower chamber, signaling an attack on those who stray from him even once. When the House voted to repeal his national emergency justifying his tariffs on Canada earlier this month, the president declared that the six Republicans who voted with Democrats would face punishment. Two of those six lawmakers — Congressmen Dan Newhouse and Don Bacon — are already retiring. Congressman Thomas Massie won the president’s scorn months ago, so the new threats mean little. A fourth, Congressman Kevin Kiley of California, may be out of the job anyway, with Democrats’ redistricting measure in place. The fifth GOP House member to vote against Mr. Trump, Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick, is likely immunized from the White House’s revenge operation given that he is only one of three Republican lawmakers who won a district in 2024 which also voted for Vice President Harris. The sixth lawmaker’s position, however, is likely the most illustrative of how Mr. Trump plans to respond against anyone who questions him in the coming months. Congressman Jeff Hurd, a Republican from western Colorado, made the decision to vote to end Mr. Trump’s Canada tariffs along with the majority of House members. He says his vote was less about politics and more about how the import taxes are putting a strain on his rural district’s businesses, especially farmers. “I … represent Western and Southern Colorado, and my constituents are directly affected by these policies,” Mr. Hurd said in a statement explaining his vote. “Agricultural producers in my district already operate on tight margins in volatile global markets. Retaliatory tariffs add pressure to their exports and supply chains.” Proclaimed he: “When trade policy becomes unpredictable, it affects payrolls, investment decisions, and long-term planning.”. Once the Supreme Court ruled that many of Mr. Trump’s tariffs were illegal, he quickly pivoted to that revenge tour. “I am hereby WITHDRAWING my Endorsement of RINO Congressman Jeff Hurd,” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social just one day after the court spurned him. “Congressman Hurd is one of a small number of Legislators who have let me and our Country down. He is more interested in protecting Foreign Countries that have been ripping us off for decades than he is the United States of America.”Mr. Trump’s threat to Mr. Hurd may seem like small potatoes — until one realizes how endangered the Colorado congressman may be. Mr. Hurd won his 2024 race by a mere five points, making him one of Democrats’ top targets for this November’s elections. The wrath for other GOP members may be coming, now that Mr. Trump has had to embrace a new tariff strategy. Once the majority of his tariffs from last April were invalidated, Mr. Trump made the decision to impose a 15 percent, across-the-board import tax under the Trade Act of 1974. Under the previous tariff scheme, which was declared unconstitutional, Mr. Trump was able to issue import tax threats without any oversight, thanks to Republicans in Congress who placed a moratorium on calling up resolutions which would roll back the tariffs. Now, under Section 122 of the Trade Act, Congress will have to vote to approve Mr. Trump’s tariffs within 150 days, or they will expire. Given the fact that the tariffs will take effect at the beginning of the day on Wednesday, House Republicans will have to hold a vote on whether or not to uphold the tariffs by July 24 at the latest — just days before lawmakers go home for their six-week campaign recess. With the sheer level of unpopularity Mr. Trump’s tariff strategy now faces, according to several recent polls, his decision to put lawmakers on the record — while also levying threats against those vulnerable lawmakers who may choose to vote against him — the president is officially declaring war, so to speak, on his own must-win House majority.

Welcome to Washington: Trump Declares War, So To Speak, on the House of Representatives

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