{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.welch.senate.gov/welch-wyden-lead-colleagues-in-demanding-transparency-accountability-for-massive-rise-in-national-security-tariffs/", "Welch, Wyden Lead Colleagues in Demanding Transparency, Accountability for Massive Rise in National Security Tariffs", "2025-10-23", "2025", "2025-10", "Democrat", "Senate", "VT", "Peter Welch", "W000800", "www.welch.senate.gov", "welch", "https://www.welch.senate.gov/category/press-release/page/", "scraper", "Senators\u2019 letter questions Commerce Secretary Lutnick over unprecedented use of national security tariffs\n\nWASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.), a member of the Senate Finance Committee, today joined Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) in leading eight Senate colleagues to call out the Trump Administration\u2019s unprecedented use of national security tariffs to pursue taxes on cars, appliances, and hundreds of other products.\n\nThe Senators\u2019 letter to Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick raised concerns that Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act\u2014which had been rarely used in the 20 years before Donald Trump became President\u2014this year alone has been used to open 12 new investigations and expand others, spanning hundreds of products used by Americans every day. The massive scope of these investigations and the lack of transparency in the Commerce Department\u2019s process undermine the integrity of a law that is intended to address true national security threats to the United States.\n\n\u201cTrump\u2019s tariffs are putting U.S. jobs, economic competitiveness, and credibility at risk by driving up costs for American businesses and consumers, creating significant uncertainty and confusion for importers, and alienating our allies,\u201d the Senators wrote. \u201cThe reliance on Section 232 to pursue tariffs on everything from cars to household appliances and kitchen cabinets stretches the limited authority delegated by Congress.\u201d\n\nThe Senators called out the lack of public consultation, as well as the failure to publish the required reports to justify the tariffs: \u201cFurther, the Commerce Department has run an opaque, unaccountable process, making decisions behind closed doors, with no justification and with limited opportunity for the American public to weigh in on the tariffs they will have to pay.\u201d\n\nIn addition to Senators Welch and Wyden, the letter was signed by Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.).\n\nRead the full text of the Senators\u2019 letter to Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:32:54Z"]], "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/welch-wyden-lead-colleagues-in-demanding-transparency-accountability-for-massive-rise-in-national-security-tariffs/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7300288416445255, "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"}