“This is us, in a sense, giving the keys to the president to be able to continue to do the great work that they’re doing,” Representative Michael Cloud, Republican of Texas, explaining his support for the stopgap funding measure the House passed this week.

Lawler: AYE

Schumer: AYE

I guess I should save discussion of that second one for the Rule of Schumer blog.

Back to my voice in Congress, Representative Mike Lawler. And tariffs. We’ve established these past couple of days that the Constitution gives the tariff power to Congress. And that Lawler effectively voted to cede that power to Trump for the remainder of this session of Congress, based on Trump’s declaration of a national emergency.

He’s giving the keys to Donald Trump, who signed the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) in 2018, proclaiming it “the largest, fairest, most balanced and modern trade agreement ever achieved. There’s never been anything like it.” But then turned on February 24, 2025 to rage: “I mean, who can blame them if they made these great deals with the United States, took advantage of the United States on manufacturing, on just about everything, every aspect you can imagine they took advantage of. I look at some of these agreements, I’d read them at night, and I’d say, ‘Who would ever sign a thing like this?’” Trump did.

He’s giving the keys to the President whose Press Secretary lectured 3 days ago, “Tariffs are a tax cut for the American people, and the president is a staunch advocate of tax cuts.” O say . . . what?

So we’re tracking one emerging rule of Lawler: cede authority, avoid accountability. As I look at Lawler’s recent interviews, another rule seems to emerge: defend fiercely, distort and dance past the facts.

Witness Lawler’s interview last week on CNN. No doubt, a MAGA warrior would shout bravo at the end of this interview. Lawler is certainly deft at reciting staid conservative principles with conviction: we need to rein in Government spending, reduce taxes, cut regulations.

But facts? “Joe Biden increased federal spending by $5 trillion in 2 years.” He emphasizes this twice during the interview. Sounds shocking, right? I don’t know where he got that number. Perhaps from Biden’s budget to increase spending by $5T over 10 years, with accompanying increased taxes on the wealthy. But the total federal spending in Biden’s last year in office was $6.75T. Trump’s last year: $7.94T. Sounds shocking, right? But it would be misdirection to cite these facts in criticizing Trump as well. Get serious about the facts ($5T in 2 years is just plain false) and context (e.g., pandemic, war in Ukraine).

Source: fiscaldata.treasury.gov

And back to tariffs. Does Lawler have any concerns about how Trump is proceeding? He says, “Tariffs are an effective short-term negotiating tool.” And “the President has already gotten significant concessions from Mexico and Canada.” True?

Here’s what I see:

O say can you see?