WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Jeff Hurd is one of two Republicans to initially sign onto a House bill that would give Congress the authority to approve or revoke new tariffs.
He said Monday he doesn’t believe President Donald Trump has the authority to levy sweeping tariffs on foreign countries – a move that sent the stock market tumbling.
“I am concerned about the broad-based tariffs that we’re seeing,” he told The Durango Herald. “I don’t believe that the president has the authority under the legislation (International Emergency Economic Powers Act) to enact these tariffs, and I think it’s incumbent on Congress to make sure that when we have tariffs like this, that they’re congressionally approved.”
Hurd joins the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., as the second House Republican to directly challenge the president’s authority on tariffs with legislation.
In a news release Tuesday from Bacon’s office, Hurd cited his core beliefs “as a constitutional conservative” in supporting the bill.
“Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution is clear: ‘The Congress shall have Power to lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises,’” he said. “This isn’t a political issue for me. I believe Congress must reclaim its constitutionally mandated authority, and I would support this measure regardless of who is in the White House.”
The House bill fulfills Bacon’s Friday announcement that he would introduce a companion bill to the Senate’s Trade Review Act of 2025.
That Senate bill, introduced Thursday by Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., has gained bipartisan traction. By Tuesday morning, seven Senate Republicans and six Senate Democrats – including Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet – had lined up behind the Trade Review Act of 2025.
House Speaker Mike Johnson said Monday he wants to give the president “space” to carry out his tariff plan, adding that he has no intention of bringing a House version of the bill to the floor, according to Politico. And even with bipartisan support in the Senate, Senate Majority Leader John Thune has already said the bill doesn’t have a future, citing Trump’s threat to veto it and echoing Johnson’s call to give the president more time.
If the bill were to pass both chambers and reach Trump’s desk, two-third of members in each chambers would need to vote to override his veto.
The bill would require the president to notify Congress within 48 hours before changing tariffs and provide a rationale, according to The Hill. The administration would also have to outline the potential impact of changing the tariffs on U.S. businesses and consumers.
Congress would then have 60 days to approve the tariffs by joint resolution or they would expire. Congress would also have the ability to end the tariffs before 60 days with a joint resolution of disapproval.
For Hurd, a freshman representative who campaigned as a moderate and a direct contrast to the district’s former Rep. Lauren Boebert, this isn’t his first time he has criticized the president.
In the first week of Trump’s term, Hurd said he was “deeply disappointed” in the president’s decision to pardon individuals involved with the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Later, after facing pressure from constituents – who turned out in the hundreds at several local events – to speak out about firings of federal employees, among other issues, Hurd told Colorado Matters that there were cuts he disagreed with and some workers he wished hadn’t been fired.
In his first tele-town hall on March 11, Hurd echoed those concerns about federal firings and criticized Trump’s rhetoric and actions toward Ukraine, saying, “Pausing military aid to Ukraine weakens our hand, it emboldens Russia, and it invites greater danger down the road from countries just like China.”
This story was updated at 9:45 a.m. to include information about Rep. Jeff Hurd cosponsoring a House bill that would give Congress more control over President Donald Trump’s powers to impose tariffs.
Kathryn Squyres is an intern for The Durango Herald and The Journal in Cortez and a student at American University in Washington, D.C. She can be reached at ksquyres@durangoherald.com.
