Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) is offering an amendment to the Senate's farm bill that would allow Congress to approve or disapprove of tariffs levied on national security justifications. | Toya Sarno Jordan/Getty Images Corker restarts tariff battle with Trump The frequent Trump critic is seizing on the Senate’s farm bill to try to curb the president’s tariffs.

Sen. Bob Corker is making a new push to allow Congress to block President Donald Trump's tariffs on U.S. allies, though his fellow Republicans may stop it in its tracks once again.

The Tennessee senator is offering an amendment to the Senate's farm bill this week that would allow Congress to approve or disapprove of tariffs levied against countries on national security justifications. Corker wrote the bill with Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.).


The president has slapped steel and aluminum tariffs on Mexico, Canada and Europe and is threatening to impose new tariffs on European cars, which Corker says would eventually cause a "jailbreak" among Senate Republicans whose states are getting hit with retaliation.

"There's going to be more and more pain accruing. July 1, there's another round of tariffs on us. July 6, there's another round of tariffs on us. And we're already seeing the impact on the economy," Corker said Tuesday as the Senate took up the bipartisan farm bill. "This is a farm bill; if you look at the impact on the ag community of these tariffs, it is severe. So I don't know of a more appropriate piece of legislation to put this on."

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Trump opposes the amendment, which, if adopted, could imperil the farm bill. Party leaders are not sure whether it has 60 votes to succeed; Corker and Toomey argue the only way to find out is to hold a vote. However, any one senator could object to a vote.

Some Republicans privately believe Corker may get at least a procedural vote this week, if not a straight vote on his amendment. But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has routinely cast doubt on Corker's effort, and McConnell's chief deputy said he'd prefer not to tar the farm bill with such a contentious debate.

Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) said he'd prefer the tariff proposal be referred to the Senate Finance Committee as a standalone bill, where it could take weeks to work though the panel. Whether Corker will get a vote during debate on the farm bill is "still being litigated," he said.

"We're going to finish the farm bill this week," Cornyn said. "Irrespective of what happens on the farm bill, the appropriate place for this is the Senate Finance Committee."

Still, McConnell is telling senators to stop fighting each other over amendments, which could be a positive development for the tariff proposal.

“Mitch’s line is: We shouldn’t block each other’s amendment ... but there are some people adamantly opposed to it,” said Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), another proponent of the Corker amendment. Flake is threatening to oppose judicial nominees in order to get a vote.

Senate Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch said he is concerned the amendment is too broad in allowing Congress input. The Utah Republican said he hopes Corker narrows the language before offering it as an amendment.

“It complicates things [on the farm bill], but we’ll see. I prefer it not be so broad,” Hatch said.

Corker and Toomey, with a coalition of liberal, conservative and moderate senators, were rebuffed earlier this month when trying to attach their amendment to a defense bill. GOP leaders did not want to confront the president so directly, and Corker was told his amendment had procedural problems because the defense bill wasn't a revenue bill.

But the farm bill is, and the Tennessee senator said the procedural argument is now moot. Meanwhile, Republican angst continues to rise over the tariffs because, as Corker put it, "pain is accruing."

And Trump is showing no sign of backing down.

"We are getting other countries to reduce and eliminate tariffs and trade barriers that have been unfairly used for years against our farmers, workers and companies. We are opening up closed markets and expanding our footprint. They must play fair or they will pay tariffs!" he tweeted Tuesday morning. "We are finishing our study of Tariffs on cars from the E.U. in that they have long taken advantage of the U.S. in the form of Trade Barriers and Tariffs. In the end it will all even out - and it won’t take very long!"

Those remarks worry Republicans, long considered the party of free trade. Citing low corn, pork and soybean prices, Iowa's congressional delegation of five Republicans and one Democrat sent Trump a letter on Tuesday to "save our rural communities."

“We remain concerned about the impacts of these retaliatory tariffs from our major trading partners on Iowa agriculture products coming to fruition,” the lawmakers wrote to the president. “We strongly urge you to quickly resolve our trade differences and avoid a trade war.”