Senator from Oregon urges colleagues to back Wyden amendment to remove presidential tariff powers

Senator from Oregon spoke on the Senate floor in support of stronger sanctions on Russia but said the current bill goes beyond sanctions by granting the president broad new tariff authority that would raise costs for American families.

"This bill, despite its title, is not just a sanctions bill. It gives Donald Trump massive new tariff authority that he can use to threaten our trading partners and raise prices on the American people," the senator said, arguing the provision would let the president alter tariffs without meaningful congressional constraint.

The senator detailed what he described as likely consequences if the tariff authority remains: higher prices for food, medicine, machinery and electronics; supply-chain disruption; and harm to small businesses and family farms. He said allies, including Canada and the EU, are already concerned about U.S. reliability in trade and could seek other partners as a result of unpredictable tariff actions.

"This bill gives Trump clear authority to put tariffs up to a 100% on the goods Americans buy from major trading partners around the globe," he said, and added that the proposal lacks any mechanism for Congress to roll back those tariffs once imposed.

To prevent what he called a "blank check" for unilateral tariff action, the senator urged a vote for the Wyden amendment (referred to in the transcript as the "Paul Wyden amendment") to remove the new presidential tariff authority from the bill. The transcript records his plea to colleagues to "vote yes on the Paul Wyden amendment to prevent this body from handing Donald Trump a new tool for inflation and corruption." No vote on the amendment is recorded in the transcript.

The senator concluded by yielding the floor after his remarks. The transcript does not record subsequent floor action on the amendment within the provided segments.