1. United States
2. Ohio
3. Letter

The history of Trump’s tariffs has, of course, been rocky. Trump made big promises last year to fund federal programs through tariff revenue, including his $12 billion “farmer bailout,” a $2,000 “tariff dividend” for low-income families and a host of other costly schemes. But that money isn’t Trump’s to spend; it belongs to the millions of Americans who paid higher prices on a vast array of products and materials last year, from Levi’s jeans tok McCormick paprika. Yet clawing that money back from the Treasury will be no easy task. In his dissent, Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote that refunding taxpayers would be nothing short of a logistical mess. That’s no excuse for inaction. Congress can and should act to clarify tariff policy for future generations by passing clear laws limiting all future presidents from engaging in similar (illegal) trickery. They should also demand a full account of how much tariff revenue has been generated, with the aim of returning it to taxpayers as soon as possible. Congress must assume what the president’s actions Friday showed: that Trump and his cronies will try everything in their power to skirt the court’s decision. Fortunately, Congress possesses the legal power to hold the White House accountable; it can do so by writing clear and forceful laws that preserve their constitutional authority to regulate taxes and tariffs. Of course, that would require Congress to reassert itself as a coequal branch of government, something that Republicans, as led by House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., have staunchly refused to do. Johnson actually tried to formally surrender Congress’s tariff powers to Trump this month, a cowardly act derailed by three members of his party. The conflicting messages from the Supreme Court and Trump on Friday show how critical it is for lawmakers to do the job they were elected to do.