Sciman 
For years, the United States has been hemorrhaging money through an ever-widening trade deficit, a problem that has ballooned our national debt to unsustainable levels. Yet, during this slow bleed, many members of Congress sat idly by, offering little more than lip service to the idea of reining in the trade imbalance. Now, with President Donald Trump wielding tariffs as a tool to address this very issue, some of these same lawmakers are suddenly up in arms, decrying his approach and scrambling to reclaim authority over trade policy. The hypocrisy is glaring.
Trump, in a fiery speech to the National Republican Congressional Committee on Tuesday, didn’t mince words. He called out “rebel” Republicans who are now pushing to curb his tariff powers, saying, “And then I see some rebel Republican, some guy who wants to grandstand, say, ‘I think that Congress should take over negotiations.’ Let me tell you, you don’t negotiate like I negotiate.” His frustration is understandable. Where was this urgency when the trade deficit with countries like China soared past $400 billion annually, contributing to a national debt that now exceeds $34 trillion?
Take Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), for instance. He’s leading a bipartisan bill to block Trump from instituting tariffs, arguing that he doesn’t want “the thought of waging a trade war with the entire world.” Fair enough—but where was Bacon’s leadership when decades of unchecked trade policies hollowed out American manufacturing and left us dependent on foreign goods? His sudden concern feels less like principle and more like political posturing now that Trump’s aggressive stance has forced the issue into the spotlight.
The Senate’s no better. Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) are spearheading a resolution to repeal Trump’s global tariffs. Meanwhile, Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) have introduced a bill requiring congressional approval for new tariffs, complete with a tight 48-hour notification window and a 60-day expiration clause if Congress doesn’t act. These are the same lawmakers who, for years, allowed trade deals to pass with minimal scrutiny, rubber-stamping agreements that prioritized globalism over American workers. Grassley, a longtime senator, chaired the Finance Committee during key trade debates—yet the imbalance grew unchecked. Wyden and Cantwell, vocal on other economic issues, rarely made the trade deficit a hill to die on until now.
The irony is thick. Congress has historically been content to cede trade authority to the executive branch, especially when it meant avoiding tough votes that might upset donors or constituents. The Constitution may grant Congress the power to regulate commerce, but they’ve been happy to let presidents—from Reagan to Obama—handle the messy details. Trump’s tariffs, love them or hate them, are at least an attempt to address a problem Congress ignored. Now, with Bacon, Paul, Wyden, Grassley, and Cantwell leading the charge, they’re acting as if they’ve been vigilant stewards of trade policy all along.
This isn’t about principle; it’s about politics. Trump’s brash style and unilateral moves have given them a convenient scapegoat to rally against, while dodging accountability for their own inaction. If they’d tackled the trade imbalance years ago—through tariffs, tougher negotiations, or incentives for domestic production—perhaps we wouldn’t be in this mess. Instead, they watched as the debt piled up, leaving us economically vulnerable.
The numbers speak for themselves. In 2024 alone, the U.S. trade deficit hovered around $800 billion, a figure that’s been climbing for decades. That’s money leaving our economy, funding foreign growth while we borrow to plug the gap. Congress could have acted at any point—imposing their own tariffs, rewriting trade deals, or demanding reciprocity. They didn’t. Now, as Trump swings the tariff hammer, they’re clutching their pearls and crying foul. It’s a hypocritical stance that’s hard to stomach.
Trump’s not wrong to call them out. Whether his tariffs are the right fix is up for debate, but at least he’s doing something. Bacon, Paul, Wyden, Grassley, and Cantwell can’t say the same. Their sudden zeal to “retake control” smells more like grandstanding than governance. If they truly cared about the trade imbalance, they’d have acted long before Trump forced their hand. Instead, they’re playing catch-up—and pointing fingers to mask their own failures.
