Sen. Bob Corker filed an amendment to the chamber's farm bill in an effort to blunt President Donald Trump's authority to unilaterally impose tariffs, multiple outlets are reporting.
The amendment, written with Sen. Pat Toomey, would force Trump to get congressional approval in order to slap tariffs under the national security provisions. However, Senate Republicans blocked a similar effort earlier this month, that time on a defense policy bill, The Hill reports.
"There's going to be more and more pain accruing. … And we're already seeing the impact on the economy," Politico quoted Corker on Tuesday. "This is a farm bill, if you look at the impact on the ag community of these tariffs, it is severe. So I don't know of a more appropriate piece of legislation to put this on."
Corker, R-Tenn., who's retiring, is one of a handful of GOP senators who want to rein in Trump's authority on tariffs. Sens. Mike Lee, Rob Portman, Toomey and Jeff Flake also share similar concerns, but most chamber Republicans think they should defer to the president.
Portman, R-Ohio, is urging the Finance Committee to hold hearings that zero in on the national security provisions, known as Section 232, The Hill reports.
"I think we should have a markup of legislation that narrows the scope of 232 to what I think is the original intent," The Hill quoted Portman. "We talked about this last week in the hearing. … I think it's too broad right now."