Peter Welch: “we are 9 months into the second Trump administration, and there are two dynamics that have become very painfully clear.…”

“we are 9 months into the second Trump administration, and there are two dynamics that have become very painfully clear. One is the arbitrary use and abuse of power by the Executive and two, the regrettable passivity of the U.S. Senate. It is a dangerous combination--an Executive who is doing much more than he has the legal power to do and a U.S. Senate not doing what it is constitutionally required to do. The two very explicit examples of Executive overreach are tariffs and budgets. The U.S. Constitution, as you know, Mr. President, granted the Congress exclusive authority over setting tariffs under article I, section 8. That is because that is the taxing power that belongs to the Congress. The point of Congress having that obligation is that we are answerable--in the House, every 2 years; in the Senate, every 6 years-- to the constituents who elect us. The power to tax is the power to kill, and we have to exercise our responsibility on the taxing authority vested in this body by the Constitution. Yet the Executive is imposing tariffs, using as a pretext emergency authorities that, under special legislation, assumed restraint in the Executive. We have seen this in case after case after case--tariffs that are imposed on the personal decision of one person, an individual, the Executive. They can be for economic reasons. They can be for personal reasons. They can be for political reasons.”