US Senate kills resolution that would have limited Trump action in Venezuela | US Senate
The US Senate has voted against a war powers resolution that would prevent Donald Trump from taking further military action against Venezuela without prior notice to Congress.
Senators Josh Hawley of Missouri and Todd Young of Indiana, who joined three other Republicans to advance the bill with Democrats last week, reversed themselves after saying they had received assurances from the Trump administration.
The Senate was split 50-50 on the resolution, with Hawley and Young voting. JD Vance cast the tie-breaking vote. Republican senators Rand Paul, Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins voted for the war powers resolution along with Democrats.
Senate Democrats strongly condemned Republican opposition to the resolution, which aims to check the president as he threatens further action in other countries such as Greenland, Iran and Mexico.
“Make no mistake about it: this vote makes things more dangerous, not less,” said Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer. “It emboldens Donald Trump to go even further down this reckless path.”
Democratic senator Tim Kaine of Virginia, who has advocated for various war powers measures, said he was prepared to offer “a lot more” to prevent Trump from carrying out military operations without congressional authorization.
“They can run, but they can’t hide,” he said, referring to Republicans whose support is needed to pass resolutions.
The president had put intense pressure on his fellow Republicans to reject the measure that would limit his ability to launch further military strikes against Venezuela.
Trump lashed out at five Republican senators who joined with Democrats to advance the bill last week. But even the prospect of the Republican-controlled Senate challenging Trump in such a high-profile vote has revealed growing alarm on Capitol Hill about the president’s expanding foreign policy ambitions.
Democrats forced the vote after US troops captured deposed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in a surprise night raid earlier this month.
Young, one of five Republicans who voted Democratic last week, says he now stands with Trump.
In his statement, Young said that after meeting with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, he “received assurances that there are no American troops in Venezuela” and that if Trump conducts “major military operations” he will “request prior authorization to use force” from Congress.
Hawley similarly told reporters that after conversations with both Rubio and Trump, he was convinced the decision was no longer necessary.
The defeat came less than a week after the U.S. Senate introduced a bipartisan war powers resolution to block Trump from taking further military action against Venezuela, after Trump authorized a pre-dawn raid to capture leader Nicolás Maduro without advance notice to Congress. The vote amounted to a rare rebuke from the president, and Trump responded by saying Republican senators who supported the resolution “should never be elected to office again.”
Wednesday’s vote was based on a procedural maneuver that called into question the validity of the decision based on the fact that no U.S. troops are currently deployed in Venezuela. The motion allowed Young and Hawley to vote to rescind the resolution without abandoning their initial objections to military action in Venezuela.
Paul, a libertarian who has long opposed US military intervention abroad, said it was “nonsense” to claim that Trump had not already committed acts of war in Venezuela. “If we don’t know this is a war until all the people are dead… then isn’t it a little late?” he told reporters before the vote.
Sen. Adam Schiff, a Democrat from California, said Congress should reassert its role and rein in presidential power, which has “vestigialized” under recent administrations.
Meanwhile, senator Jeff Merkley, Democrat of Oregon, accused Republicans on social media of voting “in favor of endless wars and against the interests of the American people.”
Cecilia Nowell contributed reporting
