Trump loses on tariffs in House vote
Congress passed election bill with uncertain future
By: Zachary Schemele
USA today
WASHINGTON - Republicans backlash in Congress over President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs burst into view despite last-minute efforts by White House officials to stave off a public party schism.
.....
However, the Republican-led House of Representatives also on February 11, [2026] passed a bill favored by Trump that would antedate proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections.
..... The House voted to overturn his tariffs on Canada after six Republicans joined with House Democrats to rescind the emergency declaration the president has sued as a basis for imposing taxes on imports from on of the United States closes allies. Republicans still largely backed Trump, with a vote totaling 219-211.
..... The vote was the culmination of simmering frustration with the White House among some GOP lawmakers, whose patients for a long-awaited Supreme Court ruling over trump's tariff power had run thin. Over the past year, a procedural trick allowed House Speaker Mike Johnson to block nay legislation from his chamber challenging the president's favored foreign policy tool, which runs afoul of more traditionally conservative approaches to economics.
..... The February 11 [2026] vote was the first in what will likely be a series of tariff rebukes forced by Democrats. The renewed scrutiny is already threatening to divide the Republican Party on a high-profile state ahead of November;s [2026] midterm elections.
.....
President Trump immediately threatened the GOP lawmakers who bucked him, which included Representatives Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Don Bacon of Nebraska, Dan Newhouse of Washington, Jeff Hurd of Colorado and Kevin Kiley of California. One Democrat voted to preserve the tariffs: Representative Jared Golden of Maine.
..... "Any Republican, in the House or Senate, that votes against TARIFFS will seriously suffer the consequences come election time, and that includes Primaries!" Trump wrote on Truth Social.
.....
Before the vote, Bacon said Trump's tariffs have been a :net negative" and a "significant tax that American consumers, manufacturers, and farmers are paying.
..... "Article I of the Constitution places authority over taxes and tariffs with Congress for a reason, but for too long, we have handed that authority to the executive branch," he wrote on social media.
..... "It time for Congress to reclaim that responsibility."
..... The bill now heads to the Senate, where its fate is unclear. Some Republicans in hat chamber have expressed the same discontent over the president;s emergency tariff policies as their House counterparts. Even if the legislation were to survive the Senate, it would face a veto at Trump's desk.
..... Ahead of the February 11 [2026] vote, Republican leaders scrambled to stop it form happening. they worked late into the night trying to persuade suborn lawmakers, but ultimately couldn't muster the support to prevent it, delivering a blow to Speaker Johnson.
..... Democrats are expected to put additional measures on the House floor in the coming days and weeks, attempting to block tariffs on other countries.
.....
In November, [2025] both liberal and conservative justices on the Supreme Court appeared skeptical of whether a president should be allowed under the Constitution to levy taxes on nearly every good imported to the United States. The high court has yet to rule in the case, and it;s unclear exactly when a decision could be announced. The justices return form winter recess on February 20. [2026]
.....
Also on February 11, [2026] the House passed a bill called the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility, or SAVE America, Act, which would require voters show a government-issued photo ID to cast their ballots.
..... Polling shows support for photo ID requirements in elections is widespread in both political parties, yet the measure would potentially prevent millions of Americans from voting, according to independent experts and voting rights groups.
..... And it would create broadly defined criminal penalties for actions officials who register voters that haven't adequately provided evidence of their citizenship.
..... The voter ID legislation faces an uncertain future in the GOP-controlled Senate, where 60 votes are needed for passage and other versions of the same legislation have already stalled.
..... If the bill, which Trump has indicated he would sign, fully passes, million of women who married names aren't on their birth certificates or passports could face extra hurdles to register to vote and cast their ballots, according to the Brennan Center.
.....
The success of the measure, which passed 218-213 in the House, underlined the need many GOP lawmakers still feel to address Trump's repeated concerns about election integrity, though his claims about widespread fraud in the United States are unfounded. The president recently called for "nationalizing" U.S. elections. The Constitution requires voting be handled at the state and local level.
..... The voter ID bill is teeing up another critical fight in the Senate over the chamber's 60-vote threshold, also known as the "filibuster." conservative hardliners have advocated weakening the guardrail in order to fully pass the SAVE America Act.
.....
But without the filibuster - which has already been considerably curtailed in notable ways by GOP lawmakers during Trump's second term - their would be little incentive for Republicans and Democrats to work together. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, has said many times publicly that there aren't enough votes among Senate republicans to further weaken the filibuster.