Party unity is not the Republicans' strongest feature, although they have held together well so far despite the Schumer shutdown.
On Tuesday evening, a different story unfolded: five Senate Republicans decided to side with the Democrats and voted for blocking President Donald Trump's tariffs on Brazil.
Senate Republicans issued a rare rebuke of the president Donald Trump and its trading strategy on Tuesday, even as it remains largely on its toes amid the ongoing government shutdown.
A handful of Senate Republicans joined Senate Democrats to end Trump's use of emergency powers to implement a steep, 50% tariffs for Brazil. Although the resolution, led by Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, advanced from the upper chamber, it cannot be taken up in the House until early next year.
That's because House Republicans recently passed a rule that will prevent the House from considering a bill related to Trump's tariffs until January of next year.
So who were the Republicans who broke ranks?
🚨NEW – Four Senate Republicans just voted with Democrats to repeal Trump's tariffs on imports from Brazil.
Mitch McConnell
Tom Tillis
Rand Paul
Lisa Murkowski
Susan Collins pic.twitter.com/OkbwLhSQcK
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) October 28, 2025
I bet if I asked you to guess who these five were, you would name most of them, if not all:
- Susan Collins (Maine)
- Mitch McConnell (Kentucky)
- Lisa Murkowski (AK)
- Rand Paul (Kentucky)
- Thom Tillis (North Carolina)
This followed a closed lunch between Vice President J.D. Vance and Republican senators, during which Vance warned senators not to block Trump's use of tariffs.
After lunch, Vance said the tariffs give Trump leverage to negotiate new trade agreements that will benefit the country and urged Republicans not to break ranks against the president.
“To vote against this would take away this incredible leverage from the President of the United States. I think this is a huge mistake and I know most people here agree with me,” he said.
As of this writing, President Trump has not commented on the vote (although he is quite busy on the other side of the world at the moment).
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As noted above, the House won't be able to take up the measure until at least January.
This is a developing story.
Editor's note: The Schumer shutdown is already here. Instead of putting the American people first, Chuck Schumer and the Radical Democrats forced the government to shut down health care to illegal immigrants. They own it.
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