Top Senate Democrats are bringing their fight against President Donald Trump’s tariffs directly to the administration.
Two dozen Democrats, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), are sending a letter today to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent demanding that tariff refunds begin immediately.
The Supreme Court struck down Trump’s IEEPA tariffs in a bombshell ruling last week. Trump quickly pivoted, using other authorities to continue his trade wars. But it’s still unclear whether the Trump administration will return the tens of billions of dollars collected under the previous tariff regime to businesses.
Democrats are focusing heavily on the issue, calling for the money to be paid back.
The message to Treasury. Senate Democrats say in their letter that Bessent’s public comments and the administration’s delay on refunds have been “unacceptable.” Bessent has said that lower courts will decide whether the tariff revenue must be returned.
Democrats have seized on the SCOTUS ruling to make their political case against Trump’s tariffs; they’ve been arguing for months that the trade wars are directly tied to rising costs.
But Democrats have limited options in the minority to push legislation against the tariffs. Democrats were challenging the IEEPA levies using privileged resolutions, but those are now moot. However, the new statute Trump invoked after the Supreme Court ruling to continue his across-the-board tariffs requires congressional approval to extend them beyond 150 days. Senate Democrats have already said they won’t vote to allow them to continue.
House Democrats have the option of using discharge petitions to try to force votes, and they’ve introduced bills to mandate refunds and end Trump’s new global tariffs. There are a handful of Republicans in both chambers who’ve been willing to break with Trump publicly and vote against the tariffs so far.
