{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://neal.house.gov/2026/09/16/neal-on-the-house-floor-the-american-people-cant-afford-congress-to-hand-trump-more-tariff-power/", "Neal on the House Floor: The American People Can\u2019t Afford Congress to Hand Trump More Tariff Power", "2026-09-16", "2026", "2026-09", "Democrat", "House", "MA", "Richard E. Neal", "N000015", "neal.house.gov", "neal", "https://neal.house.gov/category/press-releases/", "scraper", "WATCH HERE\n\n(As prepared for delivery)\n\nM/ Speaker, I rise today not only because I\u2019m concerned about what this bill would do to the people but also because of what a stain it will be on this institution.\n\nMy Republican colleagues on the Ways and Means Committee don\u2019t even see the surrender of our constitutional authority as enough of a threat to participate in this debate.\n\nThis is not the time to bury one\u2019s head in the sand and hope for the best. You cannot look at this president and conclude that he won\u2019t abuse any new tariff authority.\n\nWe had to fight all the way to the Supreme Court to constrain his IEEPA tariffs.\n\nWe know very clearly what happens when this President is handed unchecked power, and the American people know it too.\n\nHe weaponized tariffs. He threatened allies. He started petty trade wars. All while forcing the people to \u201chang in there\u201d as prices have skyrocketed.\n\nAnd stunningly, Republicans have looked at that record and decided, yet again, to forfeit the prerogative of Congress and hand Trump even more power.\n\nThis bill is a tariff tyrant\u2019s fantasy come true.\n\nThis bill hands this Administration the ability to put up to 100 percent tariffs on any good, using whatever rationale he wants, on any country this Administration wishes to target.\n\nAnd from what we\u2019ve seen recently, it\u2019s clear this president has all the incentive to let Russia off the hook and punish our allies to extort whatever concessions he fancies at a given time.\n\nHe conveniently exempted Russia last year from his \u201cLiberation Day\u201d tariffs.\n\nAnd now look what he is doing to Canada \u2013 50% tariffs on our closest ally because their Prime Minister stood up to the illegal tariffs that the Supreme Court struck down.\n\nLook how he threatened Brazil and Greenland.\n\nThis president is hellbent on using his presidency to amass more power to enrich himself on the backs of you and me.\n\nUsing data from the Yale Budget Lab, this bill could raise the cost to the average American household by over $8,000 a year.\n\nSo, I ask my colleagues: can families in your district afford that?\n\nWe can stand with Ukraine. We can punish Putin. This bill does neither of those things.\n\nAnd we can impose tough sanctions on Russia without writing President Trump another blank check to raise costs on the people.\n\nCongress has a job to do.\n\nDo it. Don\u2019t give it away.\n\nI yield back.\n\n###", 1, "2026-09-26T09:43:57Z", "2026-09-26T09:44:55Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://neal.house.gov/2026/09/16/neal-on-the-house-floor-the-american-people-cant-afford-congress-to-hand-trump-more-tariff-power/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.9775680266320705, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}