The Congress shall have power… to regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes.” -Article I, Section 8, U.S. Constitution
Almost one year ago, long before either of our nation’s political parties had settled on a presidential nominee, I joined several conservative colleagues in the House and Senate to launch the Article I Project, a bicameral network of lawmakers working together to reclaim Congress’ constitutional powers that today are being improperly exercised by the Executive Branch.
The list of President Obama’s illegal abuses of executive power is long and widely criticized, in many cases by unanimous Supreme Court decisions. But the real scandal is the vast lawmaking powers that the Executive Branch wields today by law. For decades Congress has largely avoided the difficult and politically inconvenient trade-offs inherent in legislating, choosing instead to delegate sweeping regulatory powers to federal bureaucratic agencies.
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But one area where legislators on both sides of the aisle are concerned is trade. Throughout the campaign President-elect Trump advocated raising tariffs on imports from countries, like China, with whom the United States runs a large trade deficit. While some Americans support such a policy, there’s no denying that such a move would wreak havoc on many small and midsize manufacturers in my home state of Utah and across the country that rely on imports and globally connected supply chains.
The ongoing public debate over the topic of trade is exactly why Congress—the most publicly accountable and deliberative branch of the federal government—should be involved in any decision that would increase barriers to trade.
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Congress must reassert its constitutional power “to regulate commerce with foreign nations.” That is why I will introduce the Global Trade Accountability Act, which would subject all Executive Branch trade actions (including raising tariffs) to congressional approval.
A similar bill, the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act, sets up the exact same process for all major federal regulations. That bill has passed the House of Representatives every Congress since 2010.
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Congress and the Presidency need to rebalance relationship on national security and foreign policy issues: https://t.co/pOzRVLkMWb @RandPaul
— Mike Lee (@SenMikeLee) January 18, 2017
Congratulations to Mike Lee for introducing this bill. It would require Trump to get Congressional approval before imposing crippling tariffs (read: tax increases) on businesses.
Democrats would support this too so it’s likely they could override a Trump veto.
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