The respective chairs of the Small Business Committee in both chambers of Congress are unveiling a plan to address the roughly 2 million ‘likely fraudulent’ pandemic aid applications flagged in a recent government report.

Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa and Rep. Roger Williams of Texas, both Republicans, plan to introduce the SBA Fraud Enforcement Extension Act on Wednesday in hopes of corralling the alleged scofflaws who they say broke the law and prevented untold numbers of legitimate U.S. small businesses from receiving crucial aid.

The bill extends the statute of limitations to 10 years for fraud surrounding the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) and the Restaurant Revitalization Fund relief programs instituted in 2020.

In 2022, Williams, Ernst and other lawmakers sought to do the same to identify potential scofflaw violators of the Paycheck Protection Program.

A report from the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that the Biden-era Small Business Administration (SBA) either signed or guaranteed more than $1 trillion in loans to more than 10 million small businesses.

While it had instituted a four-step process to manage fraud, that plan reportedly faltered when the SBA inspector general was unable to fully probe two-thirds of the risk referrals because the agency didn’t provide either correct or complete information about those cases.

The GAO then made a formal recommendation to the SBA, which, according to the public watchdog’s website, remains ‘open’ – and it appeared no action had at least been recorded.

The GAO also found that the fraud prevention process had not been fully implemented until ‘more than half’ of aid programs’ funding had been approved.

‘I will not allow criminals to run out the clock and escape justice simply because the Biden administration was asleep at the wheel,’ Ernst told Fox News Digital on Tuesday.

‘Thousands of hardworking small businesses were deprived of desperately needed relief because swindlers, gang members, and felons cashing in on COVID drained the programs. Every single con artist who stole from taxpayers will be held accountable.’

In Ernst’s home state, 1,800 restaurants reportedly qualified for SBA aid but never received it, prompting critics to question how much funding was diverted to fraudulent applicants instead of family-run eateries.

In Williams’ Lone Star State, federal aid allowed tens of thousands of restaurants to stay in business, but others told outlets like Houston PBS that such funding ran out before many could get back on their financial feet.

The Texas Restaurant Association told the station that 12,000 restaurants found themselves in danger of closing by 2022.

Hollywood celebrities had also received some of the SVOG funds and spent them on private jets and parties or cash for themselves, Business Insider reported.

‘The SBA distributes millions of dollars to small businesses in need every year. However, where small business owners found the capital needed to stay afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic, bad actors saw the opportunity to defraud the government,’ Williams told Fox News Digital.

‘It is imperative that every fraudster who stole and exploited taxpayer dollars during our nation’s utmost hour of need be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.’

He added that as March marked five years after the first COVID lockdowns, an extension of the SBA and law enforcement’s ability to pursue fraudsters must be realized.

Fox News Digital reached out to the SBA for comment.

When asked about the discrepancies found in the GAO report, an SBA spokesperson told Fox News Digital that Administrator Kelly Loeffler has already taken action to enhance fraud prevention efforts.

‘The SBA fully supports all efforts to crack down on fraud within its loan programs – in stark contrast to the last administration, which failed to investigate or address more than $200B in estimated pandemic-era fraud,’ Caitlin O’Dea said.

‘[SBA] will continue working to hold pandemic-era fraudsters accountable.’

Canada is bracing for the fallout of President Donald Trump’s escalating trade war, with economists warning of spiking grocery prices, major job losses and even a potential recession if threatened U.S. tariffs take effect.

The United States is Canada’s largest trading partner, accounting for nearly two-thirds of Canadian imports and receiving over 70% of its exports. But under Trump’s new ‘liberation day’ tariffs – 25% on Canadian goods and 10% on energy – Ottawa now faces an economic gut punch that could ripple across key provinces, industries and its national election campaign.

Trump has repeatedly blasted what he calls ‘unfair’ trade practices, citing Canada’s trade imbalance with the U.S. to justify the sweeping tariffs.

‘This is the beginning of liberation day in America,’ Trump said last week. ‘We’re going to charge countries for doing business in our country and taking our jobs, taking our wealth, taking a lot of things that they’ve been taking over the years. They’ve taken so much out of our country, friend and foe. And, frankly, friend has been oftentimes much worse than foe.’

Increased tariffs could mean that Americans will see higher price tags on everything ranging from fertilizer and oil, vehicles and machinery, to plastic and wood products, which, theoretically, would deter consumers from purchasing those products and result in a loss for Canada’s economy. 

Likewise, Canada in mid-March implemented reciprocal tariffs on $30 billion worth of U.S. goods, which means Canadians will not only feel losses on a macro scale but also in an immediate sense as prices at the grocery store have spiked on things like leafy greens, citrus, orange juice, beef, pork and fish.

Ottawa has yet to announce any tariffs on U.S. imported vehicles due to reported concerns over how it could further hinder Canada’s economy. Though there are some $95 billion worth of U.S. goods that it is reportedly considering putting tariffs on, depending on Trump’s April 2 announcements, according to Canadian outlet Financial Post.

‘They’re in the midst of a general election campaign,’ Andrew Hale, a senior policy analyst in trade policy with the Heritage Foundation, told Fox News Digital. ‘I think it’s very difficult for them to negotiate and put these measures on during an election campaign.

‘Everything they do and say now carries electoral weight,’ he added, noting that Canadian politicians will need to strike a careful balance: tough enough on Trump to appeal to voters but measured enough to leave room for future negotiations on tariffs.

‘If they were to put on reciprocal tariffs, it would damage the Canadian standard of living and have an impact – as all this already is having an impact – in Canada,’ Hale said, noting that auto tariffs not only affect direct car sales but all businesses that rely on vehicles, creating a trickle-down effect.

While Trump has argued that his tariffs protect U.S. manufacturing – especially the auto sector – the fallout could be far more severe for Canada. Immigration Minister Marc Miller has warned that up to 1 million Canadian jobs are at risk.

‘Most Canadians live within 100 miles of the U.S.-Canadian border, and so they obviously will be heavily impacted,’ said Hale. ‘Most Americans don’t.’

Hale noted that while the tariffs will affect the entire U.S., the hardest-hit areas will be industries closely tied to Canadian imports, such as agriculture. The U.S., for instance, sources 90% of its potash fertilizer from Canada.

‘This will have a disproportionate impact on border states,’ Hale said, but he added that the economic strain on Canadian regions like Ontario will be far greater.

Canadian leaders have already voiced concern that as many as 160,000 jobs could be lost in Quebec, along with another 500,000 jobs in Ontario, depending on how long the tariff dispute lasts.

Both Quebec and Ontario are two of the provinces expected to be among those hardest hit in Canada as they rely heavily on their steel and aluminum and lumber and forestry sectors for exports.

Canada could face a recession this year if it can’t rein in Trump’s tariff offensive, Oxford Economists first warned in a report last November.

Previous tariff wars between trading partners during the first Trump administration resulted in billions of dollars of losses for Americans and their foreign counterparts.

But Trump is banking on the U.S. being less severely affected than nations like Canada.

The full impact of the tariff war with Canada remains uncertain as Washington has also imposed steep tariffs on the European Union, China and Mexico. Trump has pledged to target the ‘Dirty 15,’ which are countries he accuses of contributing most to the U.S. trade deficit.

Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, South Africa, South Korea, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam are expected to be among those next targeted in Trump’s April 2 tariff announcement, which he has dubbed ‘liberation day.’

Details on what Trump’s next steps in his tariff war with Canada and dozens of other nations remain unknown ahead of the April 2 deadline, which has created a sense of uncertainty, Hale said.

‘Last week’s Bureau of Economic Analysis Reports signaled a continued high core personal consumption expenditure PC inflation at 2.8%. So inflation, one could argue, is not coming down, and certainly price levels continue to rise,’ he said. ‘Consumer spending has slowed sharply in both Canada and the United States.’

‘Businesses want certainty. They can’t make future investment decisions in this climate,’ he added, noting that while a recession could be on the horizon in Canada, there are too many variables to make a prediction on the U.S. at this time.

‘What I do know is that businesses and banks, people who are investing in projects, want to be able to plan,’ Hale said. ‘Hopefully, we’ll have a clear idea [on Tuesday] where this is all going to land, and then we can work with it.’

President Donald Trump called out GOP Sens. Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul of Kentucky, Susan Collins of Maine, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, in an effort to apply public pressure before the Senate votes on a measure to scuttle his Canadian tariff policy.

The joint resolution would terminate the national emergency Trump declared regarding illicit drugs and Canada — in his executive order, Trump called for slapping tariffs on America’s northern neighbor.

In a lengthy Truth Social post shortly before 1 a.m. on Wednesday, the president suggested that the four GOP senators have ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome.’ 

‘Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Rand Paul, also of Kentucky, will hopefully get on the Republican bandwagon, for a change, and fight the Democrats wild and flagrant push to not penalize Canada for the sale, into our Country, of large amounts of Fentanyl, by Tariffing the value of this horrible and deadly drug in order to make it more costly to distribute and buy,’ Trump declared.

‘They are playing with the lives of the American people, and right into the hands of the Radical Left Democrats and Drug Cartels. The Senate Bill is just a ploy of the Dems to show and expose the weakness of certain Republicans, namely these four, in that it is not going anywhere because the House will never approve it and I, as your President, will never sign it. Why are they allowing Fentanyl to pour into our Country unchecked, and without penalty,’ he continued.

Trump blasted the four lawmakers as ‘disloyal’ to the GOP.

‘What is wrong with them, other than suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome, commonly known as TDS? Who can want this to happen to our beautiful families, and why? To the people of the Great States of Kentucky, Alaska, and Maine, please contact these Senators and get them to FINALLY adhere to Republican Values and Ideals. They have been extremely difficult to deal with and, unbelievably disloyal to hardworking Majority Leader John Thune, and the Republican Party itself. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!’

Paul is a cosponsor of the joint resolution. 

Murkowski reportedly informed Politico’s Lisa Kashinsky that she will vote for the resolution, while Collins has said she is ‘very likely’ to back it, according to the outlet. 

McConnell declared in an op-ed earlier this year that ‘tariffs are bad policy.’ 

Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., spoke out against President Donald Trump and Elon Musk on the Senate floor throughout the night after beginning his marathon speech at 7 p.m. Monday.

More than 24 hours later, at 7:20 p.m. on Tuesday, Booker had broken the record for the longest Senate floor speech, before finally calling it quits at 8:05 p.m.

In the lead up to breaking the speech record formerly held by former Sen. Strom Thurmond, D/R-S.C., nearly 70 years ago, Booker yielded to Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., so he could ask the New Jersey Senator a question.

‘Do you know you have just broken the record?’ Schumer asked. ‘Do you know how proud this caucus is of you? Do you know how proud America is of you?’

Everyone in the chamber, besides the press, gave Booker a standing ovation, including those in the gallery and senate pages.

Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn., was seen wiping a tear from her face, while Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., was also seen standing and applauding.

Forty-five minutes later, Booker had concluded his speech.

Booker received some support from other Senate Democrats, whom he allowed to speak at times during his hours-long show of opposition against the Trump administration.

Booker said toward the beginning of his speech that Trump, in 71 days, ‘has inflicted so much harm on Americans’ safety, financial stability, the core foundations of our democracy, and even our aspirations as a people for, from our highest offices, a sense of common decency.’

The senator claimed that the Trump administration and congressional Republicans are targeting Medicaid and Medicare programs to fund tax cuts for billionaires and corporations.

He spent some of his time reading messages from people who wrote about various topics, including concerns about Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.

Trump has previously indicated that he will not ‘touch’ Americans’ Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid benefits, but wants to weed out fraud.

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., who said he planned to join Booker ‘for the entirety of his speech,’ noted that he was ‘returning the favor’ as Booker joined him when he ‘launched a filibuster to demand action on gun violence nine years ago.’

Murphy was among the Democrats who provided Booker with some relief by speaking at times to punctuate the marathon session.

In the social media video, Murphy described his colleague’s effort as ‘extraordinary.’

Booker said in a video before he began his demonstration that he plans to continue speaking as long as he is ‘physically able.’

After pontificating for 25 hours, Booker took a brief moment in his office before facing a group of reporters.

He told reporters that despite fasting for days and drinking water, his muscles started to cramp up during the marathon speech. He even said he was tired and sore.

‘There’s just a lot of tactics I was using to make sure that I could stand for that long,’ Booker said.

But when asked if he felt his speech moved the needle in any way and whether Democrats should employ the same tactic going forward to protest the Trump agenda, Booker said he had not had much time to digest and think about it.

‘There’s a lot of people out there asking Democrats to do more and to take risks and do things differently,’ he said. ‘This seemed like the right thing to do, and from what my staff is telling me…a lot of people watched. And so, we’ll see what it is. I just think a lot of us have to do a lot more, including myself.’

Booker said he was aware of Strom Thurmond’s record speech, but always felt it was a strange shadow to hang over in the Senate.

‘All the issues that have come up on noble causes that people have done, or the things it took to try to stop, I just found it strange that he had the record,’ he said. ‘I didn’t want to set expectations. [The] mission was really to elevate the voices of Americans to tell some of their really painful stories, very emotional stories, and to let them let go and let God do the rest.’

The House Foreign Affairs Committee (HFAC) is demanding that the United Nations not reappoint Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese. Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., who chairs the committee, is leading the charge to oppose Albanese.

In a letter to U.N. Human Rights Council (UNHRC) President Jürg Lauber, the committee accuses Albanese of failing to uphold the council’s code of conduct. They also condemn Albanese for comments she made about Israel in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks.

‘Albanese unapologetically uses her position as a UN Special Rapporteur to purvey and attempt to legitimize antisemitic tropes, while serving as a Hamas apologist,’ the committee wrote in its letter. ‘In her malicious fixation, she has even called for Israel to be removed from the United Nations while likening Israel to apartheid South Africa.’

The committee not only criticized Albanese but also slammed the UNHRC, saying its leaders ‘allowed antisemitism and anti-Americanism to thrive within, with a seeming unwillingness to hold the most egregious violators of human rights to account.’

‘Francesca Albanese is an unabashed anti-Israel activist who has consistently done the bidding of Hamas terrorists responsible for the heinous October 7th attacks. Her appointment is a disgrace to the U.N. It’s time for the U.N. to claw back the integrity and accountability it has surrendered,’ Mast told Fox News Digital.

U.N. Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer lauded the ‘much needed’ action from Congress. In a statement to Fox News Digital, Neuer said that Albanese’s reappointment would be ‘unlawful’ and called for ‘consequences’ from the U.S. if she visits the country.

‘Francesca Albanese openly supports Hamas, spreads antisemitic tropes, and tramples the U.N.’s own Code of Conduct. Under the U.N.’s own rules, the president of the Human Rights Council is now duty-bound to convey to the plenary this and other substantial objections that have been submitted, and for the delegates to formally consider Albanese’s many violations. And yet every indication is that the 47-member body — with the EU’s complicity — is instead barreling ahead with Albanese’s reappointment,’ Neuer said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

Albanese, who was appointed special rapporteur in 2022, has been condemned by the governments of multiple countries and faced accusations of antisemitism. Her response to French President Emmanuel Macron calling the Oct. 7 attacks ‘the largest antisemitic massacre of our century’ sparked backlash from France, the U.S. and Germany.

The U.S. slammed Albanese for her ‘history of using antisemitic tropes,’ and said her comments were ‘justifying, dismissing [and] denying the antisemitic undertones of Hamas’ October 7 attack are unacceptable [and] antisemitic.’

The French Mission to the U.N. condemned Albanese’s response in a post on X. According to the Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) translation, the post read: ‘The October 7 massacre is the largest antisemitic massacre of the 21st century. To deny it is wrong. To seem to justify it, by bringing in the name of the United Nations, is a shame.’ This was just a few months after the mission condemned her ‘hate speech and antisemitism.’

Germany retweeted France’s statement and said, ‘To justify the horrific terror attacks of 7/10 & deny their antisemitic nature is appalling. Making such statements in a UN capacity is a disgrace and goes against everything the United Nations stands for.’

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

The National Security Council (NSC) has clarified reporting about National Security Advisor Michael Waltz and his staffers using personal Gmail accounts for government communications.

A report published by the Washington Post on Tuesday claimed that one of Waltz’s senior aides used Gmail ‘for highly technical conversations with colleagues at other government agencies involving sensitive military positions and powerful weapons systems relating to an ongoing conflict,’ according to the piece.

‘While the NSC official used his Gmail account, his interagency colleagues used government-issued accounts, headers from the email correspondence show,’ the Post reported.

The piece comes a week after Waltz took responsibility for one of his staffers accidentally adding The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg to a sensitive Signal chat with other officials, including Vice President JD Vance.

NSC spokesperson Brian Hughes told Fox News on Tuesday that the Post report was an attempt ‘to distract the American people from President Trump’s successful national security agenda that’s protecting our nation.’

‘Let me reiterate, NSA Waltz received emails and calendar invites from legacy contacts on his personal email and cc’d government accounts for anything since January 20th to ensure compliance with records retention, and he has never sent classified material over his personal email account or any unsecured platform,’ Hughes said.

Hughes said that he could not verify the Post’s report about the senior NSC official because the journalist ‘refused to share any part of the document reported.’

‘Any correspondence containing classified material must only be sent through secure channels and all NSC staff are informed of this,’ the official said. ‘It is also made clear to NSC personnel that any non-government correspondence must be captured and retained for record compliance.’

Speaking to a room full of reporters last week, President Donald Trump said he believes Waltz is ‘doing his best,’ and did not fault him for the Signal leak.

‘I don’t think he should apologize,’ the president said. ‘I think he’s doing his best. It’s equipment and technology that’s not perfect.’

‘And, probably, he won’t be using it again, at least not in the very near future,’ Trump continued.

Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., spoke out against President Donald Trump and Elon Musk on the Senate floor throughout the night after beginning his marathon speech at 7 p.m. Monday.

The senator was still speaking on the floor as of Tuesday afternoon, more than 18 hours after he had begun.

Over 24 hours later, at 7:20 p.m. on Tuesday, Booker had broken the record for the longest Senate floor speech.

Booker yielded to Sen. Chuck Schumer so he could ask the New Jersey Senator a question.

‘Do you know you have just broken the record?’ Schumer asked. ‘Do you know how proud this caucus is of you? Do you know how proud America is of you?’

Everyone in the chamber, besides the press, gave Booker a standing ovation, including those in the gallery and senate pages.

Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn., was seen wiping a tear from her face, while Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., was also seen standing and applauding.

Booker received some support from other Senate Democrats, whom he allowed to speak at times during his hourslong show of opposition against the Trump administration.

Booker said toward the beginning of his speech that Trump, in 71 days, ‘has inflicted so much harm on Americans’ safety, financial stability, the core foundations of our democracy, and even our aspirations as a people for, from our highest offices, a sense of common decency.’

The senator claimed that the Trump administration and congressional Republicans are targeting Medicaid and Medicare programs to fund tax cuts for billionaires and corporations.

He spent some of his time reading messages from people who wrote about various topics, including concerns about Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.

Trump has previously indicated that he will not ‘touch’ Americans’ Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid benefits, but wants to weed out fraud.

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., who said he planned to join Booker ‘for the entirety of his speech,’ noted that he was ‘returning the favor’ as Booker joined him when he ‘launched a filibuster to demand action on gun violence nine years ago.’

Murphy was among the Democrats who provided Booker with some relief by speaking at times to punctuate the marathon session.

In the social media video, Murphy described his colleague’s effort as ‘extraordinary.’

Booker said in a video before he began his demonstration that he plans to continue speaking as long as he is ‘physically able.’

Democrats and Republicans repeatedly clashed on Tuesday during a lengthy hearing on what the GOP calls ‘activist judges’ blocking President Donald Trump’s agenda.

The House Judiciary Committee’s subcommittees on the Constitution and on courts held the joint hearing in preparation for a House-wide vote on legislation that would limit district judges’ ability to issue nationwide injunctions. That bill is currently stalled, however, after an unrelated fight on proxy voting paralyzed the House floor.

During the hearing, Democrats repeatedly tried to press Republicans on the issue of judicial impeachments — something pushed by conservatives but that House GOP leaders have shown little appetite for pursuing.

‘Some guy I’ve never heard of, he, might be in Congress, introduced an impeachment resolution, and he’s not here,’ Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., said of an impeachment resolution targeting U.S. district Judge James Boasberg by Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas.

‘He hasn’t been here for at least the last hour, and every witness here is in agreement that we really shouldn’t be impeaching judges. I haven’t heard a single colleague on the other side say we should be impeaching judges.’

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., who was co-chairing the hearing alongside Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, asked Swalwell to yield his time — but the California Democrat refused.

‘I don’t think they have anything to talk about with the bills, since they offered a similar bill, and even the solicitor general, as late as October of last year in the Biden administration, wanted exactly what we’re moving out of committee today,’ Issa told Fox News Digital about Democrats’ ploy.

Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., compared conservatives’ push to impeach judges to House Republicans’ impeachment inquiry efforts into former President Joe Biden — which ultimately did not end in any such proceedings.

‘I guess we’re taking a page out of [House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer’s] playbook, we’re just doing fake impeachments,’ Moskowitz told Fox News Digital.

But Roy, who co-led the hearing with Issa, told Fox News Digital it was about ‘trying to make clear that you’ve got a handful of judges acting, clearly politically, to stop the administration from acting.’

‘It’s pretty clear that my Democratic colleagues prefer to defend the right of an MS-13 gang member, clearly here illegally, from being deported,’ Roy said.

But Rep. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Wis., another member of the committee, said at least one goal was to ‘raise the profile of the issue.’

‘Maybe the more headlines a hearing like this gets, it clearly sets it on the plate of Chief Justice Roberts, right, to take action and try to get control of the courts again,’ he said.

It’s not immediately clear when Issa’s bill will get a vote, after House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., announced House floor activity was canceled for the rest of this week.

The White House is warning President Trump may veto a Democrat-led resolution that would undo his tariffs against Canada if it passes the Senate on Tuesday.

In a statement of administrative policy obtained exclusively by Fox News Digital, the Trump White House said that if the resolution came to his desk, ‘his advisors would recommend that he veto it.’

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., led several other Democrats in introducing the privileged resolution, which would specifically roll back the tariffs that the Trump administration levied on Canada. 

The resolution would reverse the national emergency that Trump declared on Feb. 1 at the northern border. 

A White House official told Fox News Digital in an exclusive statement, ‘President Trump promised to secure our borders and stop the scourge of fentanyl that’s poisoning our communities, and he’s delivering. Democrat Senator Tim Kaine is trying to undermine the President’s Emergency Declaration at our Northern Borders—a measure that prioritizes our national security—for reasons that defy logic.’

‘Under Joe Biden’s failed leadership, criminal networks, fentanyl, and terrorists ran rampant along the northern border. Today’s stunt by Tim Kaine proves once again how woefully out of touch the Democrat Party is with the American people as they use a matter of national security for political gamesmanship. The stakes are too high to reverse course; the declaration must stay in place.’

Kaine responded with his own statement, telling Fox News Digital, ‘The Trump Administration’s own threat assessment report on fentanyl did not mention Canada—not even once. Trump’s order is a blatant abuse of his authority, and it is critical that Congress push back before he inflicts even more damage to our economy and to the relationship with one of our top trading partners and closest allies.’

In a recent op-ed in the Washington Post, Kaine wrote, ‘The emergency powers Trump is invoking — based on provisions of the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act — are intended for use in legitimate emergencies related to foreign threats and adversaries.’

The senator claimed that ‘Trump’s rationale for an ‘emergency’ that justifies billions in taxes on American consumers doesn’t make sense in Canada’s case.’

He also accused the president of making ‘spurious claims of a fentanyl crisis at the northern border on par with the drug situation at the southern border, but his numbers don’t add up.’

According to the White House, since the emergency was declared, border crossings from the north have fallen by 65%. 

The White House also pointed to the significant increase in encounters along the northern border under former President Joe Biden, who saw a more than 420% increase in encounters at their peak. 

In 2024, the White House further claimed U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized enough fentanyl to kill nearly 10 million people. 

Trump took to Truth Social himself on Monday to rail against Kaine’s resolution: ‘Senator Tim Kaine, who ran against me with Crooked Hillary in 2016, is trying to halt our critical Tariffs on deadly Fentanyl coming in from Canada. We are making progress to end this terrible Fentanyl Crisis, but Republicans in the Senate MUST vote to keep the National Emergency in place, so we can finish the job, and end the scourge.’

‘By their weakness, the Democrats have allowed Fentanyl to get out of hand. The Republicans and I have reversed that course, strongly and quickly. Major additional progress is being made. Don’t let the Democrats have a Victory. It would be devastating for the Republican Party and, far more importantly, for the United States. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!’ he continued. 

Republican leadership is echoing Trump’s message in the Senate, with Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., set to make similar arguments in a floor speech on Wednesday. 

In prepared remarks obtained by Fox News Digital exclusively, Barrasso will say, ‘For four years, America’s attention has been on the southern border. Meanwhile, the criminal cartels noticed how Joe Biden and the Democrats threw open the northern border.’

He will note that Trump recognized its unique threats and ‘is taking bold, swift action to secure it.’

‘Why would we let up?’ Barrasso will ask, also pointing to the facts that ‘Canada is making changes. Canada agreed to deploy to the border more technology and more law enforcement officers. Canada also created its first ever National Fentanyl Czar.’

The resolution is expected to get a vote on Tuesday. However, it could be moved depending on the length of Sen. Cory Booker’s record-breaking floor speech, which is still ongoing. 

It will only require a simple 51-vote majority to be agreed to. This means there’s a significant chance that it advances, with some Republicans, such as Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., having expressed concerns about the tariffs.