By Jim Kinney | jkinney@repub.com
WASHINGTON – If U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal himself had been able to write the questions Supreme Court justices asked Wednesday about Trump tariffs, they would have been similar to the skepticism the lawmaker heard in the courtroom.
“I came away actually feeling fairly optimistic,” Neal, D-Springfield, told reporters from Washington.
Neal, the ranking Democrat on the House Ways & Means Committee, helped negotiate theUnited States-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) free trade agreement as chairman of the committee and is a leading Democratic voice on trade and tariffs.
He was one of about five House members in the courtroom Wednesday for the hours-long oral arguments over the Trump tariffs.
The central legal question was this: Does Donald Trump’s use of emergency powers to impose tariffs on nearly every U.S. trading partner represent an unconstitutional takeover of Congress’ power to tax?
“I clearly come down on the side that the power to tax originates in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Ways and Means Committee,” Neal said. “Congress has the power to tax.”
And the power to regulate is one delegated by Congress to the president as chief executive.
Justice Neil Gorsuch appeared concerned, according to The Associated Press, that ruling in Trump’s favor would shift too much power to the president on an issue that helped spark the American Revolution.
“Is the constitutional assignment of the taxing power to Congress, the power to reach into the pockets of the American people, just different?” he asked. “That had to be done locally, through our elected representatives.”
The tariffs are harming the economy, he said. Neal highlighted that impact earlier this year with a visit to manufacturer Steinerfilm Inc. in Williamstown in Berkshire County .
On Wednesday, Neal said he continues to hear from small businesses concerned about how tariffs are affecting them. He suspects larger companies are feeling the same pressures, but are staying quiet for now.
“For (the justices) the fulcrum is not economics, it’s the law,” Neal said. “I get that. But the outcome of the decision-making will have much to do with economics.”
That is especially so following Tuesday night’s election wins for Democrats in Virginia, New Jersey and New York City, he said.
“These decisions are driving up costs and prices,” Neal said. “Last night if there was one verdict that was rendered, it was over prices.”
Severeal of Trump’s cabinet members, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and U.S. Trade Representative Jamison Greer, were at the court Wednesday, according to the New York Times.
Sens. Ed Markey, D- Massachusetts, and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota, and Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah were also present, as was Republican U.S. Rep. Jason Smith, who is now the House Ways and Means Committee chairman.
Comedian John Mullaney was in the gallery as well, according to wire services.
Traditionally, it can take months for the justices to return a decision on a case. But an aide to the Ways and Means Democrats said Wednesday this decision may come more quickly.
Meantime, Neal said he’s been talking with Republican colleagues about the ongoing government shutdown, now the longest in history. But Trump holds the key to ending the impasse, Neal said.
“If he orders them to open the government, they‘ll open the government. No hearings, no nothing,” Neal said.
