{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.welch.senate.gov/republicans-block-passage-of-welch-and-gillibrands-bill-to-end-trumps-trade-war-with-canada/", "Republicans Block\u00a0Passage of\u00a0Welch and\u00a0Gillibrand\u2019s\u00a0Bill to\u00a0End\u00a0Trump\u2019s Trade War with\u00a0Canada", "2026-09-29", "2026", "2026-09", "Democrat", "Senate", "VT", "Peter Welch", "W000800", "www.welch.senate.gov", "welch", "https://www.welch.senate.gov/category/press-releases/", "scraper", "Average Vermont household has paid an additional $4,500+ for goods and services from rising costs under Trump, due in large part to his trade war\n\nWelch: \u201cThis is just bone-crushing, business-crushing, job-crushing. And there\u2019s no rationale for it.\u201d\n\nWASHINGTON, D.C. \u2014 Senate Republicans today blocked passage of the Banning Antiquated Duties and Delivering Equitable American Levies (BAD DEAL) Act, legislation co-led by U.S. Senators Peter Welch (D-Vt.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), which would repeal President Trump\u2019s reckless tariffs on Canada and reclaim Congress\u2019 constitutional role in setting our trade policy. Senator Welch\u2019s request to pass the BAD DEAL Act comes as President Trump enforced a new ban on Canadian imports, including beer, wine, cider and some liquors, dairy products, motor vehicles, and molasses.\n\nThe BAD DEAL Act would repeal Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930 and refund all duties paid under this authority. The bill would also repeal President Trump\u2019s import ban on various Canadian products that went into effect today. Senator Welch\u2019s request to pass the bill with unanimous consent was blocked by U.S. Senator Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Chair of the Finance Committee.\n\n\u201cThe President of the United States, acting in my view without any legal authority, is imposing unilateral tariffs on Canada. Those tariffs are now being reciprocated by Canada on us. They are doing enormous damage today to Vermonters and to Americans. They are doing enormous damage to our Canadian neighbors and their businesses. They are doing nothing beneficial for our long-term relationship with our major trading partner,\u201d said Senator Welch, a member of the Senate Finance Committee. \u201cSenator Gillibrand and I have introduced the BAD DEAL Act to repeal these extraordinarily damaging, unjustified tariffs, give relief to commerce on both sides of the U.S.-Canadian border, and begin the process of healing our relationship with our closest ally.\u201d\n\nSenator Welch concluded: \u201cIt\u2019s time for us to accept our responsibility for taxing authority, not capitulate to an executive who is reaching into the powers of this Congress, and we have the opportunity now, by acting, to end these punitive tariffs, these punitive taxes that are leading to higher costs everywhere.\u201d\n\nWatch the Senator\u2019s full remarks below:\n\nRead excerpts from his remarks on the Senate Floor:\n\n\u201cThe other point that I think is absolutely essential for every single one of us in the United States Senate to acknowledge is that the taxing power of this country is vested in the United States Congress, not in the President of the United States. And when the President is claiming emergency authority to justify these tariffs\u2014when there is no emergency and where even the grant of emergency authority in a bipartisan way in years past was based on the premise there would be restraint on the part of the executive and only use it in the moment of a real emergency \u2014 that authority is just rampantly being abused by the Executive. And we, with our responsibility under the Constitution, Republican or Democrat, must insist that it is this body that decides yes or no on taxes that are imposed on the American people. And, make no mistake, a tariff is a tax.\u201d\n\n\u2022\u2022\u2022\n\n\u201cThis is just bone-crushing, business-crushing, job-crushing. And there\u2019s no rationale for it. And then when you add onto that the rhetoric: the 51st state, the governor of Canada\u2026Our tourism industry\u2014very close with Canada\u2014is down with Canadian visitors by about 47%.\u201d\n\n\u2022\u2022\u2022\n\n\u201cOur bill, Senator Gillibrand\u2019s and I, on these tariffs that are invoked under Section 338, a never-before-applied section of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, that notorious act that was an accelerant of driving this country into the Great Depression, would repeal that authority. It\u2019s called the Banning Antiquated Duties and Delivering Equitable American Levies, or the BAD DEAL Act. It would also repeal President Trump\u2019s import ban on various Canadian products.\n\n\u201cIn Vermont, the average household is going to be paying $4,500 more for goods and services due to rising costs, due in large part to the president\u2019s trade war. In Vermont, these Section 338 tariffs, according to our Agency of Commerce, will cost Vermont businesses an additional $193 million. And for what?\u201d\n\n\u2022\u2022\u2022\n\nIn addition to the BAD DEAL Act, Senator Welch also cosponsors the bipartisan Trade Review Act, which seeks to restore Congress\u2019 constitutional role in trade policy. He also led the Creating Access to Necessary American-Canadian Duty Adjustments (CANADA) Act, legislation that would exempt United States-owned small businesses from tariffs imposed on Canada under International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) authorities.\n\n###", 1, "2026-09-30T10:57:52Z", "2026-09-30T10:59:04Z"]], "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://www.welch.senate.gov/republicans-block-passage-of-welch-and-gillibrands-bill-to-end-trumps-trade-war-with-canada/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.0029510594904423, "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"}