TERMINATING THE NATIONAL EMERGENCY DECLARED TO IMPOSE GLOBAL TARIFFS

On 2025-04-30, Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) delivered a floor speech titled "TERMINATING THE NATIONAL EMERGENCY DECLARED TO IMPOSE GLOBAL TARIFFS" in the Senate.

TERMINATING THE NATIONAL EMERGENCY DECLARED TO IMPOSE GLOBAL TARIFFS

Congressional Record, Volume 171 Issue 72 (Wednesday, April 30, 2025) [Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 72 (Wednesday, April 30, 2025)] [Senate] [Pages S2683-S2708] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] TERMINATING THE NATIONAL EMERGENCY DECLARED TO IMPOSE GLOBAL TARIFFS The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, S.J. Res. 49 is discharged and the clerk will report. The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows: A joint resolution (S.J. Res. 49) terminating the national emergency declared to impose global tariffs. Thereupon, the committee was discharged and the Senate proceeded to consider the joint resolution. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, there will now be 6 hours of debate only, equally divided between the leaders or their designees. The Senator from Maryland. El Salvador Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. President, yesterday marked 100 days since Donald Trump was sworn in as President. It happened right down that hallway. He promised a golden age for America. He has not delivered that golden age. In fact, in that 100 days, all he has delivered is chaos and destruction. Consumer confidence is plummeting, and today we learned that our economy is shrinking. This is all a totally self-inflicted, Trump- inflicted wound on America and American families. That is here at home. On the world stage, Candidate Trump promised to be the great peacemaker, to end the wars in Ukraine and Gaza on day one, but he has nothing to show for that other than distrust from our allies and smiles from our adversaries. He has thrown the Ukrainian people under the bus, and in Gaza, the hostages have not been released, and we are witnessing a humanitarian catastrophe. Over the last 100 days, Donald Trump has embarked on a lawbreaking spree that has torn up our Constitution, torn apart our government, and torn down our economy. Over 200 lawsuits have been filed in Federal courts around the country because we are watching this President break laws on every front, on everything from his illegal freezing and impoundments of taxpayer funds for important public programs that benefit communities all over the country, to his illegal firing of patriotic Federal employees, including many veterans who provide critical public services, to letting Elon Musk loose on Federal Government programs with a chain saw--not to make government more efficient but to rig government for the already rich and powerful like Elon Musk at the expense of everybody else. President Trump has also been abusing his authority to create tariff chaos that has sent consumer confidence plummeting, badly damaging our economy. He is violating the First Amendment by cracking down on students at colleges and universities for their exercise of free speech and right to assemble and also violating another vital constitutional provision: the constitutional right to due process for those who live in America. It is a staggering amount of lawbreaking in just 100 days. That is why all of us should fight back--in the courts, in this Congress, and in communities all over America. We know that the American people don't like what they are seeing, what they are experiencing. They are rising up in communities all over America to voice their disapproval with President Trump's performance. They are giving him a big fat F for the first 100 days--total, miserable, failure. The only people who don't seem to get it are some of our Republican colleagues here in the Congress who apparently live in constant fear of being on the wrong end of a tweet from Donald Trump or Elon Musk and want to look the other way in the face of this massive lawbreaking and ripping up of the Constitution. So I want to take a little inventory, just a small sampling of the actions of this lawless President. I want to cover four categories: his violations of constitutional due process rights; his violation of First Amendment rights; his illegal withholding and impoundment and freezing of public funds that benefit communities all over America; and fourth, exceeding his authorities, claiming emergency powers that he doesn't have in the area of tariffs, making sham claims to justify his tariff chaos that is sabotaging our economy as we speak. I want to start with Trump's violations of the constitutional right of due process--a bedrock American principle. As we speak, President Trump is violating the due process of many, many individuals, including the rights of a man by the name of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was snatched off the streets of Maryland and illegally shipped to one of the most notorious prisons in Latin America, called CECOT. As I have repeatedly said, this case is not about one man alone. It is about all of us. I am not vouching for Mr. Abrego Garcia, but I am vouching for his constitutional right to due process--because, if Donald Trump can ignore court orders and trample over the rights of one man, he threatens the rights of everyone who lives in the United States of America. Mr. Abrego Garcia had legal status in the United States. He lived in Maryland with his family. He had a work permit. He was an apprentice with the sheet metal workers, SMART Local 100, where he worked full- time to help support his family. He was driving in his car with his 5- year-old autistic son when he was pulled over by Federal agents. He was taken to some facility in Baltimore where he asked to make a phone call to let folks know what was happening. He was denied the opportunity to make that phone call. He was then shipped to the State of Texas. From there, his feet were shackled. He was handcuffed. He was put in a plane where he couldn't see out the windows, and he didn't know where he was going, and he landed in El Salvador and was taken to one of the most notorious prisons in our hemisphere, a place reserved for the worst of the worst, for terrorists. Now here is the thing: There was a standing court order not to deport him to El Salvador because doing so could put his life in jeopardy from gangs. Indeed, the Trump administration admitted in Federal court that Abrego Garcia was wrongfully seized and shipped to this prison in El Salvador. But instead of fixing the problem they admitted to in court, what did they do? They punished the lawyer who told the truth in court. [[Page S2684]] And now the Trump administration is ignoring orders from the Federal district court, the Fourth District Court of Appeals, and a 9-to- nothing order from the Supreme Court. We don't get 9-to-nothing decisions out of the Supreme Court very often. But that is what all those courts ordered the Trump administration to do with respect to facilitating the return of Mr. Abrego Garcia, to facilitate his return. This is not just trampling over his rights. And, again, I want to emphasize: If you allow the President to trample over the rights of one person, you do threaten the rights of everybody who lives in America. That is why yesterday I wrote to President Trump about this case, and I am going to read that letter to the Senate so no one can say they don't know what is going on in this matter. Here is what I wrote in that letter: Dear President Trump, I read with great interest your interview with Time Magazine regarding the Supreme Court's 9-0 decision ordering you and your Administration to ``facilitate'' the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who your lawyers admitted in federal court was wrongfully seized and deported to prison in El Salvador. You conceded in that interview-- This is the interview he had with Time magazine just a short while ago. You conceded in that interview that you have not asked President Bukele-- That is the President of El Salvador-- to return him. You also said, regarding this case, that you ``don't make that decision'' because your lawyers do. Your comments and the actions of your Administration clearly demonstrate your failure to comply with court orders as you continue to violate Mr. Abrego Garcia's constitutional and due process rights--and when you deny the due process rights of one person, you threaten them for everyone in America. The American public knows this. Recent polling shows that a majority of Americans reject your trampling over constitutional rights in this case. I went on to write this: During my visit to El Salvador, I had the opportunity to meet with [the] Vice President. . . . My conversation with him revealed the extent to which you and your Administration are violating the orders of the federal courts and the Constitution of the United States. Our discussion-- Again, referring to my discussion with the Vice President of El Salvador-- showed that your Administration is doing nothing to comply with and implement the Supreme Court order to ``facilitate'' Mr. Abrego Garcia's return to the United States and revealed that the Government of El Salvador is holding him solely at the request of your Administration and, specifically, because you are paying them to imprison him. While I had expected a private meeting with Vice President Ulloa, when I arrived at his office there were several cameras rolling-- I think they were probably his own private cameras. I don't know, but they were rolling to record the conversation. [So] I agreed to have our conversation on the record. And then I write: [Mr. President,] I want to report some important details of our [conversation]. Vice President . . . told me that, ``El Salvador is not able to take any action regarding the case because the case is in the U.S. and usually we do not express any opinion on domestic affairs.'' He went on to say-- I quoted him again-- I mean, the ball is in your court. Meaning the ball is in America's court, and he used that expression multiple times during our conversation. I went on to tell President Trump that the Vice President of El Salvador: . . . made clear that ``once the case will be resolved definitely and there will be clear instruction regarding this case . . . El Sa

Referenced legislation: SJRES31, SJRES31, SJRES49, HJRES75