Why is Jeff Flake preventing constitutionalists from getting on the federal bench over tariffs?
June 25, 2018, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement urging Arizona members of Congress to condemn U.S. Senator Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) for threatening to block votes on President Donald Trump’s judicial nominations:
“Arizona Senator Jeff Flake is living up to his name. His bizarre rationale for holding up highly qualified judicial nominees over President Trump’s tariff policies demonstrate that Flake has become desperate for relevance in his waning days in office. It is particularly irritating that Flake is seeking to claim an Article I rationale behind his actions, when he against Americans for Limited Government’s strong urging, voted to grant the President fast track trade authority in 2015. Now he is complaining about President Trump using the very authorities he and the rest of Congress delegated. If Flake knows his history he should remember that Congress after Smoot-Hawley passed laws that give the President broad authority to ratchet tariffs up and down reciprocally to enable the executive to move quickly in getting better trade deals for the American people, with the goal of promoting freer and fairer trade.
“Apparently Flake doesn’t like the German response to Trump’s policy by offering to eliminate their tariffs on U.S. vehicles in exchange for ending U.S. tariffs on German vehicles. This would not have been possible without President Trump’s leadership.
“Politically, Sen. Flake’s poorly thought out maneuver is great news for conservative state senator Kelli Ward in her primary battle against Flake-like U.S. Rep. Martha McSally. Every member of Congress and state representative in Arizona should unequivocally condemn Flake’s actions as they effectively negate their Senate representation. If Flake continues down this path, it is likely that the people of Arizona will have their own referendum on his idiocy with a primary outcome on Aug. 28 that neither he nor the senior senator from the state will appreciate.”
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