Senate Fails To Rebuke Trump Over His Global Tariffs Due To Absences
WASHINGTON ― The U.S. Senate was on track to adopt a resolution disapproving of President Donald Trump's global tariffs on Wednesday, but the measure failed after two lawmakers ― one Democrat and one Republican ― missed the vote.
Had Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), who was returning from a climate conference in South Korea, and Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), another critic of Trump's tariffs, been present, the effort likely would have passed, dealing another rebuke to the White House's erratic trade policies that have rattled financial markets, sapped consumer confidence, and put the economy on the precipice of a recession.
But the vote failed 49-49. It came just two weeks after another effort seeking to terminate Trump's emergency powers to levy tariffs on Canada, a U.S. ally, was approved with the support of both Whitehouse and McConnell.
The attempts to block Trump's tariffs are largely symbolic, however, since the GOP-controlled House of Representatives is refusing to allow a similar vote in that chamber.
Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Rand Paul joined every member of the Democratic caucus in voting for the resolution on Wednesday. The overwhelming majority of Republicans stuck by Trump and voted to sustain his trade policy even after a new report from the U.S. Commerce Department found the U.S. economy actually shrank in the first three months of 2025, the first decline since the first quarter of 2022.
Earlier this month, in a stunning reversal on his initial tariff scheme, Trump slapped 10% tariffs on everything Americans buy from overseas, and 125% tariffs on everything they buy from China. He has promised even higher tariffs in July on products from nearly five dozen countries as part of his goal of rebalancing international trade and rebuilding U.S. manufacturing.
Top Trump officials have claimed that dozens of countries have approached the U.S. seeking to ink trade deals that would, at least theoretically, make the tariffs on their nations go away. The Trump administration has yet to reveal one, and lawmakers of both parties are losing patience.
'Many products from China won't even be available soon, thanks to the tariffs,' said Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), a lead Democratic sponsor of Wednesday's resolution. 'For the products that are still available, prices are going up, a fact that Trump is desperate to hide. When Amazon was rumored to list the impact of tariffs on prices, Trump threw a fit, reportedly threatening Jeff Bezos and calling it a hostile act. God forbid Americans know the real cost of tariffs.'
Paul, meanwhile, argued that Congress needs to reassert its constitutional authority over trade that it has delegated over decades to the executive branch by allowing presidents to levy tariffs unilaterally under a national emergency.
'I still support the president on many things but I am not for a country run by emergencies ― even if the person were doing everything I wanted [like] making every day my birthday. I would not be for that unless we deliberated on that,' Paul said in a Wednesday speech on the Senate floor. 'The Constitution does not allow the president of the United States to be the sole decider,' he added.
The Kentucky Republican, a libertarian-leaning voice in the Senate, further chided the House of Representatives for making a procedural move to effectively block any House effort to cancel Trump's tariffs despite several Republicans offering legislation to do so.
'They declared that legislative days will not exist despite the legislature continuing to meet every day. The House has essentially ruled that days are not days,' Paul said. 'Does that sound absurd? Absolutely, it's absurd. It is craven, it is cowardice, and it is dishonest.'
'We have congressional timidity,' he lamented. 'It's a recipe for disaster.' Trump, meanwhile, has shown no signs of letting up on the tariffs ― which are effectively taxes paid by U.S. consumers ― even as he has granted exceptions to certain large corporations. During a Wednesday meeting with his Cabinet, the president said that children in the U.S. may just have to live with fewer toys if store shelves go empty.
'Much of it we don't need,' he said of goods coming from China. 'Somebody said, 'Oh the shelves are gonna be empty.' Well maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls, and maybe the two dolls will cost a couple of bucks more than they would normally.'
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Politico
20 minutes ago
- Politico
Ramos for… Cuomo?!
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Forbes
21 minutes ago
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How Stablecoins Are Changing Global Finance
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In Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, and among crypto-native startups, they've quietly emerged as a preferred tool for payments, payroll, and preserving value in unstable economies. So what does this bottom-up adoption mean for the future of global finance? Are stablecoins here to stay, or will they be replaced by Central Bank Digital Currencies? And if they are here to stay, how to ride this trend? According to DefiLlama, the current market capitalization of stablecoins is around $250 billion, which is still a small share of the global M2 money supply, approximately 1%. In other words, we're still early. To understand where the growth might come from, it's worth examining what stablecoins are used for—and why they've become so popular. Stablecoins market capitalization. The first is USDT (Tether), the largest stablecoin by market capitalization. Interestingly, Tether has also emerged as one of the most financially efficient companies in the world on a per-employee basis. According to a tweet published by Avichal Garg, co-founder of Electric Capital, the company generated an estimated $85.6 million in profit per employee in 2024: Profit per Employee (USD) vs. Company The second major player is USDC, issued by U.S.-regulated firm Circle. The company went public on June 5, under the ticker CRCL, with its stock surging over 200% on its first day of trading—pushing its market capitalization above $20 billion, according to Barron's. These two companies currently dominate the stablecoin space. Others worth mentioning include: • USDS (formerly DAI), which started as a decentralized stablecoin but has become only partially decentralized due to its large holdings of U.S. Treasuries and USDC. • USD1, a politically charged entrant tied to Donald Trump's network, which has generated some discomfort among Democratic lawmakers. Rep. 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The lack of clarity discourages businesses from accepting them, especially given the lingering memory of Operation Choke Point, when certain industries were unofficially cut off from banking services. Despite the current U.S. administration's relatively crypto-friendly stance, the stablecoin bill GENIUS Act has yet to pass through Congress. This uncertainty keeps most merchants and payment providers on the sidelines. Once clear legislation is enacted, trust in stablecoins like USDT and USDC will likely surge. As for CBDCs, a concept that is often met with skepticism in the cryptocurrency community, the need for a government-backed digital dollar seems increasingly unnecessary. According to U.S. Treasury International Capital data, Tether's treasury holdings alone rival those of sovereign investors like Germany or Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, Circle's portfolio is comparable to that of Thailand or Sweden. With such significant exposure to U.S. debt and growing political opposition to CBDCs—including campaign promises from Donald Trump to block their development—stablecoins may have already secured their place as the preferred digital dollar infrastructure in the United States. The third major use case—decentralized finance —is where stablecoins are already thriving. They serve as the foundational currency for DeFi applications, enabling lending, borrowing, swapping, yield farming, and more—all without centralized intermediaries. The functionality mirrors traditional finance but with key advantages: it's global, permissionless, and often more efficient. According to Dune Analytics data in the DeFi Report 2024–2025 , approximately 151 million wallet addresses interacted with DeFi protocols in 2024. While this figure likely includes duplicates, it provides a useful upper bound for estimating user activity. 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Some are more complicated, like finding companies to invest in that adopt stablecoins in their operations — for payments, payroll, or international transfers — and which are likely to scale faster than their peers, thanks to lower costs and global reach. Check Stripe, PayPal, and Deel as examples. On the decentralized side, assuming a favorable regulatory framework materializes, in a next way of adoption, DeFi applications could rapidly pull users away from traditional banks. In that case, there is significant upside in owning tokens or equity in platforms like Uniswap, Aave, or even Hyperliquid — all of which are well-positioned to become foundational players in the next generation of financial infrastructure. Derivative DEX trading volumes. But don't forget the risks to watch. Transformation won't come without resistance. The banking lobby remains one of the most powerful political forces in the world, and it's unlikely to welcome a shift toward 'magic internet money' without a fight. Regulatory headwinds, political gridlock, and coordinated opposition from legacy institutions are all real risks investors should keep in mind. But we know that fortune, at least in markets driven by emerging technologies, often favors the brave.
Yahoo
21 minutes ago
- Yahoo
HubSpot, Inc. (HUBS): A Bull Case Theory
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