Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Gregory W Meeks (5th District of New York)
Washington, D.C. – Representative Gregory W. Meeks, Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, today delivered the following remarks, as prepared, to demand a vote on the House floor for S.J.Res.88, legislation to terminate the made-up national emergency the Trump administration is using as justification to impose tariffs on some of the United States’ closest trade partners.
“We should be voting today to end these tariffs and lower costs for everyday Americans. Instead, this house majority is paralyzed by fear, making it one of the least effective in modern American history.
“The American people sent us to Washington to address affordability. To lower the cost of health care, housing, and groceries. Yet this Congress has taken fewer votes in 2025 than in any non-pandemic year this century. Apparently, the Majority doesn’t think affordability is important enough to vote on.
“Instead of focusing on prices, the White House has spent the past week talking about invading Greenland or using your taxpayer dollars to buy an island that isn’t for sale. To advance this fantasy, President Trump threatened yet another round of tariffs that would raise prices even further, only to walk the threats back after the stock market tanked yesterday.
“Regardless of what the President does, we are a co-equal branch of government. We should be addressing affordability right now by passing the resolutions I have offered, and resolutions that have already passed the Senate, to terminate these tariffs.
“When asked to explain why we are not doing everything we can to lower costs for American families, the Speaker responded that the President is exercising Article II powers to impose tariffs. Only there’s one problem; the President has no Article II powers to tax or tariff. Those powers are explicitly assigned to Congress under Article I of the Constitution.
“So, the Republican Majority, more interested in providing cover for Donald Trump than honoring their oath to the Constitution, is deliberately avoiding doing its job to lower costs for Americans.
“I urge my colleagues to defeat the previous question, demand a vote on terminating the tariffs, and yield back the balance of my time.”