Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Small Business Committee Ranking Member Edward Markey, D-Mass., and Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., along with other Democratic senators, released legislation Feb. 23 to require full refunds of the IEEPA tariffs that were recently overturned by the Supreme Court.
The lawmakers indicate in a press release that to date the Trump administration has collected an estimated $175 billion in illegal tariff revenue and that the Tariff Refund Act of 2026 would require the full refund, with interest, of those funds. Specifically, according to this group of lawmakers this legislation would:
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require U.S. Customs and Border Protection to pay refunds of all tariffs that were unlawfully imposed by the president under IEEPA and paid by importers, even if the importation has already been finalized and liquidated by CBP;
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set a deadline of 180 days after enactment for CBP to process all refunds;
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require CBP to pay interest on the refunded amount;
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direct CBP to prioritize small businesses when paying refunds and to coordinate with the Small Business Administration to provide key information on the refund process to small businesses;
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require CBP to report every 30 days to relevant congressional committees on the status of refunds until CBP has completed the payment of all refunds;
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direct CBP to issue guidance on how to address duty drawback claims; and
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express the sense of Congress that importers, wholesalers, and large corporations should pass on those refunds to their customers.
