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Tuesday, Harry Bosen picked up the phone and called the office of his congressman, Rep. Morgan Griffith. The retired lawyer lives in Cave Spring and was incensed after he checked the value of a retirement account.

In a matter of days, it declined by $110,000, Bosen said. The sudden plunge followed President Donald Trump’s announcement last week of trade tariffs against almost every nation on Earth.

(Wednesday afternoon, Trump apparently blinked in response to crashing financial markets and postponed most of the announced tariffs for 90 days. At that time, the markets moved sharply upward.)

When he called Griffith’s office on Capitol Hill Tuesday and spoke to an aide, “I was succinct,” Bosen said. He told the staffer that Griffith, R-Salem, should “get a spine.” Among Bosen’s complaints were the tariffs, “which are a stupid thing to do,” he said.

“How can you go through life without realizing a tariff is a tax paid by the consumer?” Bosen added. “That’s pretty stupid.”

Bosen was shocked that he got an email from Griffith the very same day. But he was less than thrilled by its content. It almost appears that Griffith is totally uninterested in reining in Donald Trump on tariffs.

Currently, there’s bipartisan legislation before Congress that would accomplish exactly that — The Trade Review Act of 2025. It was the subject of Tuesday’s column, which urged readers to call Griffith and Reps. Ben Cline and John McGuire, and demand they vote for the bill.

The legislation was first proposed in the U.S. Senate by Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and Maria Cantwell, D-Wash. Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., has introduced identical legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Article I, Sec. 8 of the U.S. Constitution explicitly puts Congress in charge of tariffs. But over years, lawmakers have ceded that authority to the White House. The Trade Review Act of 2025 would take those powers back — and allow Congress to cancel tariffs announced by the White House, by majority vote.

Here’s how Griffith responded to Bosen (the congressman’s full letter accompanies this column):

“If actions by the Executive branch are unlawful or an overreach of power, the Legislative and Judicial branches have not only the right, but the responsibility, to counter these actions and provide the appropriate checks on the Executive branch. This should hold true regardless of which party controls the Administration or Congress.

“Thus far, I have not seen anything establishing that the Trump Administration has violated constitutional authority, or authority given to the Executive branch by Congress. I have long believed that for decades Congress has given too much authority to the Executive branch. Under Democratic administrations, these granted authorities have been exercised to the fullest extent to advance the agendas of the president.”

“So, while I would prefer to clip the wings of all Executive branch decisions, I cannot fault President Trump for using the same authorities as his predecessors.”

That’s a fascinating reply, huh?

I emailed it to Griffith’s press secretary, Jackson Krug, and asked if every Ninth Congressional District resident who complains about Trump tariffs is getting the same response.

Normally Krug ignores my queries, But this time he actually replied with a statement from the congressman.

The letter Griffith emailed to Bosen Tuesday “is a general response letter to general allegations that I am not standing up to President Trump,” Griffith said in the statement. “This is not a response letter specifically on tariffs, and we have not issued a letter on tariffs.”

It’s unclear whether his office intends to issue a form letter about tariffs.

Bosen wasn’t the only constituent who called Griffith. Another was Dr. Nina Templeton of Blacksburg. The physician and veterinarian said she called about the Trade Review Act of 2025, she said.

“The staffer on the other end said, ‘Oh, thank you for calling. He likes to hear from his constituents,’ ” Templeton told me.

Templeton also got back an email dated April 8. But the reply she received was an entirely different form letter — about energy.

“Dear Dr. Templeton,” Griffith’s reply began. “Thank you for contacting me regarding renewable energy. I appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts. As always, we need to balance the needs of the country. Access to reliable and affordable energy is the building block of a healthy economy.”

The letter sported four more paragraphs, all about energy policy. Templeton said it was the second occasion on which she has received the same form letter. (On the first occasion, Templeton had actually written Griffith about energy.)

“I guess my phone call went into the ‘energy’ pile to be sent this rote reply (which I have received in the past),” Templeton told me. “I did get this reply faster to my phone call than to past emails so maybe (your column) speeded up the reply generator.”

But Bosen and Templeton should not feel too bad that their congressman sent them one off-topic form letter as am response. Dennis Cropper of Lexington said he’s experienced the same thing from his congressman, Rep. Ben Cline, R-Botetourt — three times.

Recently “I have emailed Mr. Cline, through his website email address, almost once a day,” Cropper said. He’s sent Cline 13 different emails, each on a different topic:

“The topics have included Medicaid, education, IRS, Greenland, Social Security, the Department of Health & Human Services and others,” Cropper wrote.

“In every one of these emails I end it with something to the effect of ‘Would you please come to Lexington and discuss with your constituents your thoughts on XXX and listen to their questions?’

“I have received 3 responses, all form letters, that do not answer the questions or concerns in my email,” Cropper added.

“And he has NEVER responded to the question of coming to Lexington to meet with his constituents.”

Seems par for the course, eh?