Terminating the National Emergency Declared to Impose Global Tariffs
Floor Speech
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Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, this week, the U.S. Senate voted to terminate national emergency declarations that enabled President Trump's tariffs on Brazil and Canada.
Next week, November 5, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear a majority of trade cases challenging President Trump's authority to impose global tariffs under the Emergency Powers Act.
The law is clear that the President does not have authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose sweeping tariffs on imports on more than 80 countries around the world. I am pleased that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce endorsed the Trade Review Act, legislation proposed by myself and Senator Grassley. The Cantwell- Grassley legislation focuses on the fact that it is this body's job and responsibility to do trade acts.
The Chamber of Commerce clearly states in their letter that they are representing millions of businesses around the United States of all sizes to try to press upon us the importance of why Congress needs to reinstate its role.
The U.S. Chamber writes to the Members of the U.S. Senate:
``The U.S. Chamber of Commerce urges Congress to pass legislation to reclaim its constitutional role in setting tariffs, including the Trade Review Act. Doing so would restore appropriate procedural deliberation in the enactment of taxes on trade, benefitting the millions of Americans whose livelihoods depend on international commerce and the certainty that supports investment in our economy.
Members of Congress continue to hear from farmers, workers, and business owners about the harm inflicted by broad-based tariffs and the associated economic uncertainty. American families are facing thousands of dollars in higher prices as a result of these increased taxes. Small businesses, manufacturers, and ranchers are struggling with higher costs, with additional economic pain likely coming in months.
The Chamber--
Meaning the U.S. Chamber. has long supported legislative proposals to reassert congressional prerogatives on trade as a means to secure durable outcomes. The Constitution grants exclusive authority to Congress ``to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises . . . [and] to regulate commerce with foreign nations,'' and exercising leadership on this front should be a priority in the context of today's challenging economic outlook.
By establishing a more deliberate process for enacting tariffs, Congress can ensure that [the] appropriate stakeholder consultation and a methodical assessment of costs precede any decision to raise [costs] on traded goods. To date, several proposals have been introduced that address these concerns, including but not limited to the bipartisan . . . Trade Review Act as well as resolutions terminating the national emergency [declaration on] tariffs (S.J. Res. 88 [and] S.J. Res. 77). The Chamber urges members of Congress to work across the aisle to enact [this] legislation requiring an up-or-down vote for any new tariffs and those imposed in the year to date.
This is signed by Neil Bradley, Executive Vice President, Chief of Policy, Head of Strategic Advocacy for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
To the Members of the United States Senate: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce (``the Chamber'') urges Congress to pass legislation to reclaim its constitutional role setting tariffs, including the Trade Review Act. Doing so would restore appropriate procedural deliberation in the enactment of taxes on trade, benefitting the millions of Americans whose livelihoods depend on international commerce and the certainty that supports investments in our economy.
Members of Congress continue to hear from American farmers, workers, and business owners about the harm inflicted by broad-based tariffs and the associated economic uncertainty. American families are facing thousands of dollars in higher prices as a result of these increased taxes. Small businesses, manufacturers, and ranchers are struggling with higher costs, with additional economic pain likely in the coming months.
The Chamber has long supported legislative proposals to reassert congressional prerogatives on trade as a means to securing durable outcomes. The Constitution grants exclusive authority to the Congress ``to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises . . . [and] to regulate commerce with foreign nations,'' and exercising leadership on this front should be a priority in the context of today's challenging economic outlook.
By establishing a more deliberative process for enacting tariffs, Congress can ensure that appropriate stakeholder consultation and a methodical assessment of costs precede any decision to raise taxes on traded goods. To date, several proposals have been introduced that address these concerns, including but not limited to the bipartisan and bicameral Trade Review Act as well as resolutions terminating the national emergency declared to impose broad-based tariffs (S.J. Res. 88, S.J. Res. 77). The Chamber urges members of Congress to work across the aisle to enact legislation requiring an up-or-down vote for any new tariffs and for those imposed in the year to date. Sincerely, Neil L. Bradley,
Executive Vice President, Chief Policy Officer, and Head of Strategic Advocacy, U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
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Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I hope that as we continue to talk about trade, that Congress will take the steps necessary to end tariffs on U.S. small businesses and American families. Healthcare
Now, Mr. President, I also want to rise to talk about the serious healthcare crisis and the affordability crisis that is affecting our Nation. In just 2 days, on Saturday, November 1, millions of Americans are going to go online to sign up for their 2026 Affordable Care Act health insurance plan.
As we know, keeping healthcare affordable is a key priority, and I see that the premiums that are being talked about are going to increase by hundreds or thousands of dollars every month for the same coverage they just had this year. That is, next year is going to go up thousands of dollars.
Some people are going to say, ``I can't go without health insurance. I have to find a way to cover this extra cost by cutting back on food and prescription drugs or working longer shifts.'' But for about 5 million Americans, including 80,000 in my State, they will probably be forced to say, ``I just can't afford health insurance anymore.'' They are going to hope they don't get sick. They are going to hope that they don't have an emergency, but we know that that is uncomfortable.
Last week, my office released a case study detailing what this decision would look like for a married couple in Washington State making $120,000 a year. Across all 39 counties in my State, couples in this situation would have to decide what to do in the face of an average premium increase of a whopping $1,049 per month. That is, their costs will go up $12,000 per year.
Here is just one example in King County, my State's largest county. This couple would go from paying $425 a month to $1,386 a month. This problem isn't unique to Washington. There are other parts of the United States that are seeing the same thing.
Hopefully, all of this data is being released to individuals, and hopefully, our colleagues are paying attention to this because it is showing what premium increases look like, but a couple in the State of Alabama--I am sorry, a single woman in Alabama making $65,000 a year could see her premium increase 43 percent from the 2025 levels. It would mean she would pay an additional increase from going from $314 a month to $452 a month.
Another example, for a family of four in Texas, for parents making $70,000 a year but don't just get insurance through their jobs, their insurance would cost $505 in 2025, but without the extended premium tax credit, likely to face $1,551 cost per month in 2026.
So these costs are adding up on American families. Together, these costs continue to hold individual households and their budgets in an undesirable position. We are already hearing stories about people squeezing in medical procedures before the end of 2025.
To make matters worse, for families with massive increases in premiums and with the rise in inflation we have seen since January of this year, households are trying to decide whether they take care of healthcare or groceries or electricity.
And the sad truth is that we could have worked this out. We could have done this in the bill passed earlier this year. Congress could be working right now, even, on working down the cost of insurance premiums for 24 million Americans. But instead, people are refusing to come to the table to discuss this issue.
The Senate needs to be the place we used to be: that is, getting legislation done. We need to work together collectively to have votes and to discuss how to solve these problems in good faith across the aisle. We should be extending the ACA premiums now and making sure these prices don't rise and continue to work on long-term solutions to make health insurance more affordable for Americans.
So I urge my colleagues to continue to work with us. The ACA tax credits expiring at the end of this year and this enrollment that we are going to see on November 1, that everybody is going to see how much these costs are going up--I am asking my colleagues, let's roll up our sleeves. Let's work to lower these costs.
I know that in the Affordable Care Act, there are States like New York, Oregon, and Minnesota who have the basic health plan. The basic health plan provision, modeled on something our State had first done, lowered the costs for a lot of working families across the United States. Programs like this should be considered, as well as solutions that would help us lower costs for the future.
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