Bacon: House Won’t Back Trump’s Tariff Bill Post-Supreme Court Ruling

Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., stated he would not support moving President Donald Trump’s tariffs into law following the Supreme Court’s Friday decision to overturn them.

“Okay, I don’t think they have the votes,” Bacon told reporters minutes after the court’s 6-3 ruling that Trump overstepped his authority in enacting the tariffs.

While some Republicans, including Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, have called for the Senate to use reconciliation to enact the tariffs, the GOP holds only a one-seat majority in the House.

Bacon previously joined six House Republicans in voting to repeal Trump’s tariffs on Canada.

“I can see doing targeted tariffs on countries that aren’t treating us right, but that’s not what the president was doing,” Bacon said.

The retiring congressman said he had urged the White House to bring tariffs on Russia and China to Congress, but expressed doubt they would take that approach.

“Why don’t you work with us and draft legislation with us, and we’ll pass it?” Bacon added. “But that would be an admission that they need us on tariffs, so they don’t like that.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said Congress and the Trump administration would determine the path forward in coming weeks.

“No one can deny that the President’s use of tariffs has brought in billions of dollars and created immense leverage for America’s trade strategy and for securing strong, reciprocal America-first trade agreements with countries that had been taking advantage of American workers for decades,” Johnson stated.

Following the Supreme Court ruling, Trump announced he would impose a 10% global tariff via different executive authority.

Bacon said he preferred the president work with Congress rather than act unilaterally.

“Because we’ll go down the same path due to constitutional issues,” Bacon remarked, calling the Supreme Court’s ruling a vindication of congressional authority. “They can try to package it a different way, and I think they’ll get the same results from the Supreme Court.”

“I think Congress should not just say, ‘We’re not going to defend our own authorities; we just hope the court does.’ No, we should stand up on our own two feet and defend our authorities,” Bacon added.