On April 2, President Donald Trump declared a national emergency to impose sweeping nonreciprocal tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).
Congress should now use its powers under the National Emergencies Act to place a check on these actions and prevent executive overreach. The Act requires Congress to vote every 6 months on whether to end a presidentially designated emergency. That safeguard was designed to prevent presidents from invoking dubious “emergencies” and then leaving them in place indefinitely.
Once a joint resolution to terminate the national emergency is introduced in either the House or Senate, it is supposed to be brought to the floor within 15 calendar days and voted on within 3 calendar days. If the resolution passes the House and Senate, it is sent to the President, who has the option of vetoing it.
To avert a difficult vote on the “emergency” behind President Trump’s nonreciprocal tariffs, on April 9, the House of Representatives changed its rules to read, “Each day during the period from April 9, 2025, through September 30, 2025, shall not constitute a calendar day for purposes of section 202 of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1622) with respect to a joint resolution terminating a national emergency declared by the President on April 2, 2025.”
Many House members presumably did not want to be forced to choose between voting in support of Trump’s $330-billion-a-year tariffs or risking Trump’s wrath. So they changed their rules, effectively nullifying the National Emergencies Act’s requirement for the House of Representatives to vote on the national emergency underlying the tariffs.
The maneuver also sent a message to the Senate: why bother voting to terminate the emergency if the House will never take up the resolution? Even so, the Senate likely would have passed a resolution to terminate the emergency had Senators Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) not missed the vote.
The House rule change stating that “a day is not a day” ends on September 30. Since the next 6-month period for Congress to vote on the presidentially designated national emergency starts a few days later, some Members of Congress may be tempted to again change House rules to redefine the meaning of a calendar day.
Instead, the House should embrace its constitutional and legal responsibilities and follow the requirements that are spelled out in the National Emergencies Act. This law exists for a reason: to prevent executive overreach, even if it forces lawmakers to make hard choices.
NTU opposes these tariffs as taxes that would cancel out much of the tax relief contained in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. But, regardless of one’s position on tariffs, Congress should follow the law. The House should not change its rules to redefine the meaning of a day.