Are H.R.2459 or S.4049 current law?

No. As of the May 8, 2026 review, H.R.2459 has been introduced and referred to House Ways and Means, and S.4049 has been introduced and referred to Senate Finance. Neither bill has become law.

Would these bills automatically create Section 122 refunds?

No. The bills would repeal Section 122 authority if enacted. They do not create a CAPE process, do not themselves order entry-level refunds, and do not replace protest or litigation analysis for existing entries.

Why should importers track pending tariff-authority bills?

Congressional bills do not change duties until enacted, but they can signal political pressure, affect replacement-authority strategy, and become vehicles for amendments to Section 122, Section 232, Section 301, or emergency-tariff powers.

Congressional Tariff Authority Watch: Section 122 Repeal Bills

Q: What is the Reclaim Trade Powers Act?

The Reclaim Trade Powers Act is the title used by H.R.2459 and S.4049. Both bills would repeal Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, the balance-of-payments authority used for the 2026 temporary import surcharge.

Quick Answer

Two pending bills titled Reclaim Trade Powers Act would repeal Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974:

H.R.2459: introduced March 27, 2025; referred to House Ways and Means.
S.4049: introduced March 11, 2026; referred to Senate Finance.

They are not current law. They do not change entry filing, refund eligibility, CAPE, or protest deadlines unless Congress enacts them and the President signs them, or Congress overrides a veto. Treat them as a policy-risk watch item, not an operative refund rule.

Informational only - not legal advice.

Why this matters now

Section 122 became operationally important in 2026 because Proclamation 11012 used it for a temporary import surcharge after the IEEPA tariff ruling. On May 7, 2026, the Court of International Trade declared that proclamation invalid and entered relief for the importer plaintiffs, but that ruling did not make every importer an automatic refund recipient.

The congressional watch lane is different from the court lane. Court orders can affect existing duties and refunds. Pending bills can change future authority, but they do not change current entry treatment until enacted.

Current bill status

Bill	Chamber	Sponsor	Current status	What it would do
H.R.2459	House	Rep. Jimmy Panetta	Introduced March 27, 2025; referred to House Ways and Means	Repeal Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974
S.4049	Senate	Sen. Tim Kaine	Introduced March 11, 2026; read twice and referred to Senate Finance	Repeal Section 122 and make conforming amendments

As of the May 8, 2026 review, the official sources checked do not show either bill enacted into law.

Pending bills are not filing instructions

Do not treat a congressional bill as authority to stop paying duties, amend entries, file CAPE, or assume a refund. Entry treatment still depends on the current HTS, CBP guidance, liquidation status, court orders, and enacted law.

What Section 122 does

Section 122 is the balance-of-payments authority codified at 19 U.S.C. 2132. It allows temporary import measures, including a tariff surcharge, in certain international-payments situations. The 2026 Section 122 surcharge used the 9903.03.* Chapter 99 family.

The two Reclaim Trade Powers Act bills aim at the authority itself. If a repeal became law, the most direct effect would be prospective: future presidents would not be able to use Section 122 in the same way unless Congress later restored or replaced the authority.

What the bills would not do by themselves

These bills would not, by themselves:

make CAPE available for Section 122 entries,
order CBP to refund every 9903.03.* entry,
resolve whether non-party importers receive relief from the May 7 CIT ruling,
affect Section 232 pharmaceutical tariffs,
affect the March 2026 Section 301 investigations,
change liquidation or protest deadlines on existing entries.

That is why this page should live next to, not replace, the Section 122 ruling pages and the Chapter 99 code references.

Watch items

Track these events before changing public guidance:

Event	Why it matters
Committee hearing or markup	First sign the bills are moving beyond introduction.
Reported bill text	Amendments could narrow, expand, or replace a simple Section 122 repeal.
Companion or related bill activity	Trade-authority changes often move as amendments to broader packages.
Floor vote	Signals a real path toward enacted law.
Conference or substitute text	Final text can differ materially from introduced text.
Enactment	Only enacted law changes the statutory authority.

Practical monitoring rule

Use a three-lane model:

Court lane: CIT, Federal Circuit, Supreme Court, and case-specific judgments.
Agency lane: CBP CSMS, Federal Register notices, USITC HTS revisions, and USTR/BIS actions.
Congress lane: introduced bills, committee action, enacted statutes, and appropriations riders.

Do not move a fact from the Congress lane into user-facing operational guidance unless it becomes enacted law or an agency/court action relies on it.

Sources & Verification