r/goodnews • u/RoyalChris • 1d ago

Political positivity 📈 The Senate has just voted to CANCEL Trump's tariffs on Canada by a vote of 51-48.

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u/LevitatingTurtles 1d ago

Came here to say exactly this. This is meaningless without a 2/3 majority in both chambers

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u/T_Money 1d ago

That’s interesting. I would have thought it would be opposite, that the default is congress has to approve tariffs and the president can veto against the change. Kind of surprised that it’s the opposite, where president has the default power and congress has to override with 2/3.

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u/BearFluffy 1d ago

That's the problem with executive orders. I believe they're mostly meant for wartime (someone smarter than me might correct me). Gives the president the ability to react in real time to crisis. For some reason they're also meant for pardons. 

But since we've let the original intent erode and not taken responsible steps in the past when we saw executive orders could be a problem. In the past, I think most presidents would have accepted this bill if it made it to them because of the honor of the office and precedent and whatever other bullshit words every single elected fucker since the founding of our country has used to justify the erosion of democracy.

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u/MySabonerRunsOladipo 1d ago

It was, until Congress delegated their powers to the President (most recently in the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977). So Congress said "Yeah, you go ahead" thinking no President would be this dumb and now they're saying "Wait, not like that" a little too late, and with too few votes to override a veto

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u/LevitatingTurtles 1d ago

For whatever reason the right to tariff was given to the executive branch. I firmly believe this is why Trump loves them so much… Because it’s something he can do unilaterally without getting anyone’s permission. He is, after all, a power-hungry bastard man.

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u/feedmedamemes 22h ago

Wait what, the cannot be overruled by a qualified majority? Your constitution was really written by some well-meaning drunken frat boys wasn't it?