House Democrats are launching a long-shot attempt through a discharge petition to try to force a vote to stop President Donald Trump's tariffs, and are calling on Republicans to join their effort, according to a new report.
"It is time for Republicans to do the right thing, sign my discharge petition, and end this tariff tantrum," House Foreign Affairs Committee ranking member Rep. Greg Meeks, D-N.Y., said in a statement provided to Axios, the outlet reported Wednesday.
In his petition, Meeks is attempting to force a vote on his resolution to end the national emergency declaration used by Trump to base his April 2 tariffs.
The petition is the Democrats' last chance to force a vote on the Meeks resolution, after the House voted to approve Speaker Mike Johnson's procedural motion blocking them from bringing up the matter under the National Emergencies Act.
Discharge petitions allow representatives to bring a bill or resolution that has been referred to committee but not reported, according to congressional rules.
The move is a complicated one, and after Johnson's use of a procedural maneuver earlier this year to kill a discharge petition on proxy voting, Meeks' push is being seen as having a slim chance of succeeding.
However, the discharge petition on tariffs is seen as a way to make Republicans choose between remaining loyal to Trump while trying to mitigate the economic damages tariffs could bring to their congressional districts.
The petition, under congressional rules, needs 218 signatures to pass, so some House Republicans as well as most Democrats will need to participate. Johnson, however, can bring in an unrelated procedural measure, along party lines, that will kill the move.
Some Republicans have said they have their doubts about the tariffs, few are openly opposing them, and not all House Democrats may be willing to sign the Meeks petition. One, Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine, is seen as one of the House's strongest proponents of tariffs in either party.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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