A Senate bid to torpedo President Donald J. Trump’s tariffs failed in a blow to Democrats and their new friend Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), as a resolution to end his emergency order narrowly went down to defeat.
Paul was joined by the usual two suspects, Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) who got the Democrats to a 49-49 deadlock with Vice President JD Vance providing the decisive tiebreaking vote to reject the effort to tie the president’s hands as he seeks to end unfair trade relationships with foreign countries that have been allowed to exploit the United States.
50-49: Vice President JD Vance cast the tie-breaking vote defeating legislation to end President Trump’s nat’l emergency declared April 2 to impose global tariffs. Rs Collins, Murkowski & Paul supported the bill.McConnell & Whitehouse,who also opposed Trump’s tariffs,were absent. pic.twitter.com/dVDBHhsDKH
— Craig Caplan (@CraigCaplan) May 1, 2025
Sens. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), who both supported undermining Trump and could have put Democrats over the top, did not show up for the Wednesday vote.
The resolution would have revoked the national emergency that was declared by Trump to implement the “Liberation Day” tariffs, which have drawn fierce resistance from those who have benefited from the offshoring of American manufacturing and other jobs and the importation of foreign goods, especially from China.
Democrats have also sided with China and other exploiters and are unified against the restoration of domestic manufacturing, a relic from the days when America was an economic powerhouse with a prosperous middle class that was the envy of the civilized world, people whom the party used to represent.
Earlier this month, Paul teamed up with Democrats on the “privileged” resolution, which was spearheaded by Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-OR) along with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Sens. Tim Kaine (D-VA), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Peter Welch (D-VT), and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).
“The Senate cannot be an idle spectator in the tariff madness,” Wyden said.
“Abusing emergency powers to impose blanket tariffs not only drives up costs for American families but also tramples on the Constitution. It’s time Congress reasserts its authority and restores the balance of power,” Paul said in a statement after the resolution was first introduced.
Before the vote, the Kentucky Libertarian took to X with what turned out to be a premature victory celebration.
When it’s a beautiful day to be a Senator, but a terrible day to be an emergency declaration. pic.twitter.com/COq3Nyyeh2
— Senator Rand Paul (@SenRandPaul) April 30, 2025
He had previously expressed confidence that there would be enough GOP votes to give Democrats their win against Trump.
Paul justified his sabotaging of the cornerstone of the economic policy of his own party’s president by spewing Democrat talking points about the tariffs being taxes and invoking sweeping historical terms.
“You know, there was an old-fashioned conservative principle that believed that less taxes were better than more taxes,” he said on the Senate floor. “That if you tax something, you got less of it. So that if you place a new tax on trade, you’ll get less trade.”
“There was also this idea that you didn’t do taxation without representation. That idea goes not only back to our American Revolution, it goes back to the English Civil War as well. It goes back probably to Magna Carta,” Paul added.
Collins and Murkowski just hate Trump and can always be counted on to partner with Democrats to undermine him.
“It’s still a debate worth having,” Paul said after the resolution failed to pass.
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