Research Highlights: 4/16/25

Trade Policy Adjustments and Economic Impact: This week, the U.S. government announced and then paused a series of tariffs on imports from various countries, including a 125% tariff on goods from China and other rates between 11% and 50% on imports from dozens of nations and the European Union. These tariffs, implemented last week, initially caused fluctuations in global stock markets. On April 9, 2025, most of these tariffs were paused, resulting in a rebound in stock prices. Officials have described the measures as part of a broader economic strategy, while some analysts have raised concerns about potential effects on trade and economic stability.

Source 1:  Breitbart, Source 2: CNN

House Passes SAVE Act Requiring Proof of Citizenship for Voter Registration:

This week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which would require individuals to provide documentation verifying U.S. citizenship when registering to vote in federal elections. Supporters of the legislation describe it as a safeguard against ineligible voting. Critics have raised concerns that the requirements could create administrative barriers for eligible voters. The bill now heads to the Senate, where its path forward remains uncertain.

Source 1: PBS, Source 2: Fox News

President Trump Signs Executive Order on State Climate Regulations: President Donald Trump signed an executive order declaring a national energy emergency and instructing the Department of Justice to evaluate whether certain state climate laws exceed federal authority. The order specifically highlights state-level policies that require fossil fuel companies to contribute financially for past greenhouse gas emissions. Reactions to the executive action vary, with some citing the importance of energy policy uniformity and others pointing to potential implications for state environmental autonomy.

Source: 1: The White House,  Source 2: Newsmax, Source 3: POLITICO

House Stops; Senate Goes

By Amy West (April 4, 2025)

This week the House came to a halt early due to a standoff between Speaker Johnson (R-LA4) and Rep. Luna (R-FL13) after passing a few uncontroversial bills. You might think this means today's post will be short. However, why the House did so little requires a bit of a long explanation.

Despite a delay on Tuesday from Sen. Booker (D-NJ), the Senate continued to confirm nominees and inch closer to passing a budget resolution of its own (step one in the reconciliation process).

Proxy Voting for New Parents

Rep. Pettersen (D-CO7) and Rep. Luna are the main co-sponsors of a new House rule that would, if passed, allow new parents 12 weeks in which to designate a proxy for their votes while they're at home with their new child. Even though Pettersen is the main sponsor, because the majority is Republican and because she's been trying to get this rule passed in other ways, Rep. Luna has become the main face of the bill. The problem that Luna has faced is that Speaker Johnson claims any proxy voting system is unconstitutional.

To get around Johnson's objections, Pettersen and Luna got 218 co-sponsors on their resolution. Reaching that number of sponsors meant that they could use the "discharge petition" process to force the bill to the floor for a vote.

Johnson, meanwhile, tried to use a debate and voting rule on a set of other bills that Republicans support to prohibit the resolution from being brought to the floor for a vote. The rule did not pass.

Quick House Procedure Note

The normal process for a bill to come to the floor is for the Rules Committee to set the time and amendment parameters for the bill. Once that's done, then the whole House either agrees or disagrees with these parameters. The committee can add additional content to a rule as well.

It's rare, though much less so since last Congress, for the majority to vote against a rule. But with the vote margins in the House so narrow last Congress and this one, voting down rules has become a tool for small groups of members of the majority to express their dissatisfaction with leadership decisions.

When the rule failed, Johnson shut the House down. Why? Because if the House stayed in session, Rep. Luna or Pettersen could bring up the discharge petition which means that the resolution itself would need to be voted on within two legislative days (not the same as real days, but that doesn't matter for now). So until Johnson relents, the House is conducting no business.

How might this standoff end? We don't know. There's talk about amending the resolution to specify it's only for 6 weeks instead of twelve and only for new mothers, but it's not clear that the existing resolution could be amended before it came up for a vote. Further complicating matters for Johnson, President Trump weighed in yesterday supporting the bill.

For now though, unless either Johnson or Luna gives in or they find some kind of procedural compromise, the House is not in session. This means they are not available to work on the budget resolution that the Senate is in the process of passing right now. That puts the reconciliation process further off and, like the Democrats when they last held the majority and the Presidency, reconciliation is pretty much the only way for Republicans to pass any of their priorities.

Sen. Booker Delays Senate Activity

Starting Monday evening, Sen. Booker took control of the Senate floor and held it until 25 hours later on Tuesday. In so doing, he delayed some Senate business and beat Strom Thurmond's, a segregationist, old speech record. Talking Points Memo covered the story and interviewed Booker about his goal with the speech.

Budget Reconciliation

Now that the Senate is back to previously scheduled work, on Thursday, April 3, they passed a "motion to proceed" on the budget resolution. This means the Senate is now debating the budget resolution. The resolution itself will likely be voted on this weekend.

Assuming the resolution is passed this weekend, that means the ball is back in the House's court. (The Senate has passed a different version from the House's so the House has to vote again) Thus, there's considerable pressure on Johnson to resolve the Luna proxy voting issue as soon as possible.

Bill Votes

There were a few, including one that will be law shortly.

• S.J.Res. 37: A joint resolution terminating the national emergency declared to impose duties on articles imported from Canada, which would end tariffs against Canada by ending the grounds on which they're imposed, passed 51-48.

• H.J.Res. 24: Providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Department of Energy relating to “Energy Conservation Program: Energy Conservation Standards for Walk-In Coolers and Walk-In Freezers” passed the Senate 53-42 and now goes to the President to sign.

• H.R. 517: Filing Relief for Natural Disasters Act, which extends deadlines for tax filing for people who have been in natural disasters, passed 388-0.

• H.R. 997: National Taxpayer Advocate Enhancement Act of 2025 passed 385-0.

• H.R. 1491: Disaster Related Extension of Deadlines Act passed 423-0

See you all next week!

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