Eight Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives have teamed up with House Democrats to stop an effort to override President Joe Biden's veto of a bipartisan measure to restore U.S. tariffs on Chinese-made solar panels. 

The Washington Examiner reports that the final vote was 214 to 205.

A two-thirds majority of the House would have been necessary to override Biden's veto. But, that mark was not reached.

The eight House Republicans who joined with House Democrats to oppose the measure are:

U.S. Reps. John Curtis (R-UT); Anthony D’Esposito (R-NY); Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-NY); Rep. Nicholas LaLota (R-NY); Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY); Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY); Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA); and Rep. Marcus Molinaro (R-NY).

Biden's pro-China, anti-American moratorium

Biden, in June 2022, announced a 24-month moratorium on U.S. tariffs on solar panels imported from Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, and Cambodia.

These are the four countries from where the solar panels ostensibly originate. The U.S. Department of Commerce, however, believes otherwise.

The department, in fact, actually found that the solar panels come from China but that China has been sending them through these four countries in order to sidestep U.S. tariffs on China-made solar panels. If true, this would be a trade violation.

This allegation by the department has disrupted solar panel projects here in the United States. And, this is why Biden announced the moratorium, "to satisfy the demand for reliable and clean energy."

Congressional Republicans have been attempting to end Biden's moratorium - to restore the tariffs on China. Republicans have done so in order to protect U.S. jobs and workers from unfair Chinese competition.

The congressional struggle to reverse Biden's moratorium

In April 2023, the House and Senate passed a Congressional Review resolution to restore the tariffs. But, this past week, Biden vetoed that resolution, saying that it would "create new uncertainty for American businesses and workers in the solar industry."

To overcome Biden's veto, a two-thirds majority of both the House and Senate was necessary.

As mentioned above, the House's veto override attempt failed, and it was helped to fail by the eight Republicans mentioned above, who have steadfastly stood behind Biden on this issue.

Now, Biden's moratorium will continue until next June.

Breitbart News puts this situation into perspective, reporting:

While skyrocketing U.S. trade deficits have led to devastation across America’s working- and middle-class communities over the last two decades, tariffs would be a boon for reshoring jobs and boosting wages, studies show. One such study finds that tariffs on nearly all foreign imports would create about ten million American jobs while boosting domestic output.