DC Week Ahead

5 Things to be Watching for This Week

A lot will be going on in the nation’s capital this week – from tariffs to reconciliation to special elections and more. Here’s what you need to know:

TARIFFS

President Trump has dubbed Wednesday, April 2 “Liberation Day.” Why? Because this is the day many of the tariffs the president has already announced are set to go take effect, and also because he will announce what is expected to be a large slate of additional tariffs -- reciprocal tariffs – on other nations the United States trades goods with. He insists his tariffs policy will ‘free’ the country from decades of unfair trade practices and will put the U.S. and trading partners on a level playing field.

TARIFFS II

The 25% tariff the president announced on imported cars, light trucks, and auto parts also goes into effect later this week. Auto industry analysts expect this will significantly impact the cost of virtually every vehicle sold in America, since even those vehicles that are assembled in the U.S. use parts imported from other countries. According to Kelly Blue Book, a new car was estimated to cost approximately $48,000 as of February. It's believed car prices could go up as much as $10,000 if automakers pass on the full cost of tariffs to consumers. 

RECONCILIATION

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) has made it clear he want to try to move the House GOP’s budget resolution this week in the Senate. Passage of a joint budget resolution is necessary for committees to able to begin the actual work of writing the legislation that will make up the “one, big, beautiful bill” President Trump has asked Congress to pass. There are still some real differences between the way House Republicans and Senate Republicans want to achieve the president’s legislative goals, so it’s no guarantee that the Senate will get this resolution passed – or that what they end up passing will be acceptable to enough House Republicans. So, keep an eye on the progress this week in the Senate.

NO PROXY VOTING

Look for potential fallout from Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) decision to kill Rep. Anna Paulina Luna’s (R-FL) discharge petition. Rep. Luna, a strong Trump ally, was attempting to use the parliamentary procedure to force a vote on legislation to allow proxy voting for new and expectant mothers. Many hard-liners feel proxy voting is unconstitutional and urged Johnson to keep the bill from coming to the floor, where, reportedly, it would have had enough support to pass. Monday afternoon, Luna resigned from the Freedom Caucus over their opposition to her bill.

FLORIDA SPECIAL ELECTION

Voters in Florida’s 6th House District go to the polls Tuesday to decide who will be filling the seat left vacant when Trump tapped Michael Waltz to be his National Security Adviser. Republican Randy Fine is favored to win, but Democrat Josh Weil has been able to raise enough money to make the race closer than it probably should be. Analysts say anything less than a 20-point win for Fine should raise eyebrows.