Latest news with #Title19
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump trying to find ‘loophole' on tariffs: Oregon attorney general
Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield said Thursday that President Trump was attempting to find a 'loophole' to instate global tariffs. The Trump administration has argued that under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which Trump enacted in February, the White House can set and dismantle trade rates through sole executive power. 'He used an emergency power. No president has ever used that power, and that's why he got struck down, and he's going to get struck down again,' Rayfield told NewsNation. The Oregon attorney general said Trump wants to bypass traditional Title 19 laws regulating tariffs to 'skirt the sideboards, the safeguards for our economy that Congress put in place.' 'He doesn't want to do those. Those have limits on terms. Those have limits on the period in which that Trump… these tariffs can get administered,' he said. 'So he's trying to do this in a backwards way and find a loophole. And the judges said, 'No.'' Two federal judges ruled to block Trump's tariffs but an appeals court temporarily paused their injunctions until legal arguments from both the government and plaintiffs could be heard. IEEPA is a federal law that grants the president power to regulate international trade if they've declared a national emergency in response to an 'unusual' and 'extraordinary' threat. Multiple attorneys general and lawmakers have suggested that Trump has overstepped his authority by implementing 'Liberation Day' levies on many of the United States' trade partners without a viable cause. Bipartisan lawmakers have taken issue with slated duties due to their potential impact on the national and global economy in addition to price increases for consumers. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
2 days ago
- Business
- The Hill
Trump trying to find ‘loophole' on tariffs: Oregon attorney general
Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield said Thursday that President Trump was attempting to find a 'loophole' to instate global tariffs. The Trump administration has argued that under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which Trump enacted in February, the White House can set and dismantle trade rates through sole executive power. 'He used an emergency power. No president has ever used that power, and that's why he got struck down, and he's going to get struck down again,' Rayfield told NewsNation. The Oregon attorney general said Trump wants to bypass traditional Title 19 laws regulating tariffs to 'skirt the sideboards, the safeguards for our economy that Congress put in place.' 'He doesn't want to do those. Those have limits on terms. Those have limits on the period in which that Trump… these tariffs can get administered,' he said. 'So he's trying to do this in a backwards way and find a loophole. And the judges said, 'No.'' Two federal judges ruled to block Trump's tariffs but an appeals court temporarily paused their injunctions until legal arguments from both the government and plaintiffs could be heard. IEEPA is a federal law that grants the president power to regulate international trade if they've declared a national emergency in response to an 'unusual' and 'extraordinary' threat. Multiple attorneys general and lawmakers have suggested that Trump has overstepped his authority by implementing 'Liberation Day' levies on many of the United States' trade partners without a viable cause. Bipartisan lawmakers have taken issue with slated duties due to their potential impact on the national and global economy in addition to price increases for consumers.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Oregon AG leading tariff battle: Court stays don't change legal merits
(NewsNation) — Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield, who is leading a multistate lawsuit against President Donald Trump's tariffs, said Thursday federal appeals court stays don't alter the fundamental legal problems with the administration's use of emergency powers to impose trade duties. 'You've had four judges in the United States that have ruled that the president has misused his emergency powers, and one of these judges was even appointed by Trump,' Rayfield, a Democrat, told 'The Hill on NewsNation.' 'A stay is just that, it periodically pauses the given action so that the appellate court can consider the merits of the case. This isn't a ruling on the merits.' The Oregon attorney general's comments followed the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit's temporary lifting of a lower court's block on some Trump tariffs, although a separate Washington, D.C., ruling keeping other tariffs on hold remains in effect. Harvard, Trump court battle — and polarizing debate — continue Rayfield argued that Trump violated constitutional principles by invoking the International Emergency Economic Powers Act instead of traditional tariff authorities under Title 19, which previous presidents have used. He said the emergency powers law lacks the safeguards and time limits that Congress built into standard trade remedy statutes. 'The Constitution gives Congress the power to set tariffs. That isn't an inherent presidential power,' Rayfield said. 'Every single president has used Title 19 laws. He used an emergency power. No president has ever used that power, and that's why he got struck down.' 'He's trying to do this in a backwards way and find a loophole,' Rayfield told NewsNation. The attorney general warned that Trump's tariffs would cost Oregon households an average of $3,800 annually and have already reduced state revenue by more than $700 million, affecting funding for schools and health care. He cited instances of Canadian products being pulled from shelves at Oregon businesses due to trade uncertainty. State Department scrutiny adds hurdles for international students White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has defended the tariffs as being within the president's authority, saying judges who blocked them 'brazenly abused their judicial power to usurp the authority of President Trump.' However, Rayfield noted that the three-judge panel that initially blocked the tariffs included appointees from the Reagan, Obama and Trump administrations. When asked whether tariffs could help Oregon's rising unemployment rate, which has outpaced the national average since June 2023, Rayfield dismissed the possibility. He said the economic disruption from trade disputes was harming rather than helping job creation in his state. 'The real facts here are that this is incredibly harmful to all of us,' Rayfield said. 'I would love people to just ask their neighbors: Can you afford another $3,800 a year?' The legal challenges are working their way through multiple courts, with briefing schedules extending into June as appeals courts consider whether to extend the temporary stays or allow the lower court blocks to take effect. The White House says the Supreme Court will likely need to step in. NewsNation partner The Hill contributed to this report. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Oklahoma lawmakers grill mental health agency leader over budget gap
A special committee in the Oklahoma House of Representatives opened its investigation into the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services on Thursday, throwing question after question at the agency's commissioner. Allie Friesen, who spent more than two hours testifying in front of the committee, told lawmakers the agency faced a $43 million deficit. She also acknowledged that letters canceling some provider contracts were sent to the providers, though she said that happened without her knowledge. Friesen said those letters referenced 'incentive or bonus payments.' Some mental health providers have complained, however, that they were notified that funds for services already provided may not come. 'As soon as I realized that those are functioning not as a bonus, but rather as a core component of care, we pivoted,' Friesen said. 'And we realized that we needed to quickly ask for a supplemental (appropriation), and we need to make sure that these providers have what they need.' More: Fourth investigation launched into Oklahoma mental health department by House speaker Friesen described inheriting a "chaotic" agency after Gov. Kevin Stitt appointed her as commissioner in January 2024. She said her priority has been to ensure people needing behavioral health services have access to "high quality and affordable care." "It will not be — in fact it has not been — an easy process," she said. "In fact, it's been very painful and arduous process for our entire leadership team." Lawmakers focused much of their questioning on the agency's funding gap. Rep. Mark Lawson, who chairs the special committee, asked when Friesen became aware of what looked like a $63 million budget hole. Friesen said she learned of the problem about six weeks ago. "We were alerted there were some potential problems with our Title 19 funding," she said. "The number at that point was not quite solid." Friesen said Title 19 funds are used to cover behavioral health coverage that supplements Medicaid coverage. After an internal examination by some of the agency's administrators, that amount was reduced to $43 million, she said. Lawson, R-Sapulpa, countered that he was concerned by the large budget gap framed against the agency's $6.2 million supplemental budget request to lawmakers. "What I am seeing is we still have a budget gap of $43 million," he said. "Yet we have a request for $6.2 million. And to me, $6.2 million is not $43 million." Friesen said the agency's goal was to make sure lawmakers had a clear understanding of what was going on at the agency, what caused the agency's problems and what the plan was to move forward. She vowed to be transparent. "Our goal is certainly to be a reliable, accountable and transparent organization," she said. "Unfortunately, that is not what this administration inherited." Others who testified were Tulsa District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler, Tulsa police Lt. Amber McCarty and Tulsa Deputy Police Chief Mark Wollmershauser. Kunzweiler questioned whether the agency had canceled its contracts with some Tulsa-area providers in a retaliatory move because those contractors had raised questions about how the contracts were reported. During the hearing, lawmakers also asked about the new consent decree stemming from a 2023 lawsuit against the agency. The decree, negotiated by the governor's office, the attorney general's office and mental health agency, was approved unanimously by the House on a 91-0 vote. Lawson said the ruling seeks to uphold due process for pretrial defendants awaiting mental health evaluations and competency restoration by mandating faster evaluations, expanded forensic resources and improved training. 'This is a critical moment for mental health services in Oklahoma,' Lawson said. 'We must balance compassion with accountability and ensure those in crisis receive the help they need, while taxpayers can trust their dollars are being spent wisely.' The committee's investigation — which is expected to take several meetings — is one of four investigations of the agency. In addition to an audit by the state auditor's office, the agency is being examined by the Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency and by an outside investigator tapped by Stitt. House Speaker Kyle Hilbert said the House hearings were necessary so lawmakers could understand exactly what was happening at the agency. In addition to raising concerns about the agency's budget request, lawmakers also have questioned the departures of several agency administrators and the unknown use of $5 million allocated for an upgraded electronic medical records system. 'With just over a month remaining in the legislative session, this investigation is a top priority,' Hilbert said in a news release. 'Our goal is to understand the department's financial practices, ensure accountability and determine whether additional funding is truly necessary before the session concludes.' The agency hearing is expected to continue next week. This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma lawmakers grill state's mental health agency leader on budget
