Sponsors (11)
The bill returns surcharge payments and eases consumer price pressure while imposing administrative and revenue costs and legally constraining the executive branch's ability to use tariffs quickly for national-security or foreign-policy purposes.
Importers and U.S. businesses that paid the surcharge will get refunds for duties collected between Feb 20, 2026 and enactment, returning cash to affected firms and improving their short-term cash flow.
Middle-class consumers buying affected imported goods will face lower prices because the immediate surcharge is eliminated, reducing near-term cost pressure on those products.
Taxpayers and state governments gain a legislative check on executive tariff actions because the bill prevents use of federal funds to implement similar temporary import surcharges in the future.
The bill constrains the President's ability to rapidly use tariffs as a national-security or foreign-policy tool, reducing executive flexibility in urgent international situations.
Refunding duties will lower Customs revenue and impose administrative costs on Treasury and Customs and Border Protection to process claims and repayments, shifting costs to government operations and taxpayers.
Nullifying the proclamation immediately could prompt legal challenges from supporters or trading partners, creating uncertainty for importers and exporters and possibly leading to litigation costs and delays.
Based on analysis of 1 section of legislative text.
Nullifies the Feb 20, 2026 presidential temporary import surcharge, bars federal funds to implement similar proclamations, and requires refunds of duties collected since Feb 20, 2026.
Official title: To nullify the Presidential Proclamation relating to Imposing a Temporary Import Surcharge to Address Fundamental International Payments Problems, and for other purposes.
Introduced April 9, 2026 by James Varni Panetta · Last progress April 9, 2026
Nullifies the Presidential Proclamation issued February 20, 2026 (and any successor or substantially similar proclamation) that imposed a temporary import surcharge (tariff) and bars use of federal funds to implement such proclamations or similar actions. It also directs the President to provide refunds of tariffs or duties that were collected under that proclamation (and any successor/substantially similar actions) for the period from February 20, 2026 through the date of enactment. The effect is to remove the legal force of the specified proclamation and to require the administration to return duties already collected under it, while forbidding federal spending to enforce or carry out the disputed surcharge or comparable future proclamations.