Senate to vote on legislation to stop unauthorized war against Venezuela – US politics live | US news
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Jenna Amatulli
Donald Trump appeared to share everything on his mind at once, posting more than 30 Truth Social posts in less than three hours on Wednesday.
The posts, 33 between 4:17 p.m. and 6:40 p.m. ET, came a day after Democrats won a series of elections in the United States in New York, California, Virginia and New Jersey.
Trump’s posts varied by topic. In a handful of letters, Trump advised his followers to buy books written by former FBI special agent Nicole Parker, Fox News political analyst Gianno Caldwell, Georgia congressman Barry Loudermilk, senior adviser for commerce and manufacturing Peter Navarro and his own former lawyer Christina Bobb. Most importantly, Trump wrote the foreword to Bobb’s book.
Other posts featured videos of Trump appearing to read almost verbatim from Truth Social text posts he had previously published. They appeared to be artificially produced, but the Guardian was unable to independently verify this. Users on social media platform X asked Grok about their authenticity and Grok noted they were indeed artificial intelligence.
Upon requesting more information from the White House, the Guardian received an automated response that read in part: “Due to staffing shortages resulting from the Democrats’ Shutdown, there may be delays in the typical 24/7 monitoring of this press inbox.”
The videos show Trump standing in front of a podium in an unknown room and cover topics such as his recent meeting with Japan’s prime minister, the G2 meeting with Chinese president Xi Jinping, Walmart allegedly lowering its prices, and more.
Cy Neff
The federal government will cut airline traffic by 10% in 40 “high-volume markets” starting Friday if the government shutdown doesn’t end by then, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and FAA administrator Bryan Bedford said on Wednesday.
The announcement did not specify which 40 airports would see the reductions, and it was stated that the full list of cuts at the country’s 30 busiest airports, including those serving New York, Washington DC, Chicago, Atlanta, Los Angeles and Dallas, will be announced on Thursday. The decrease will affect cargo, private and passenger traffic.
Reuters reported that the cuts will start at 4 percent on Friday, rise to 5 percent on Saturday and 6 percent on Sunday, then reach 10 percent next week, with international flights exempt from the initial cuts. Aviation analysis firm Cirium estimated the cuts would cut as many as 1,800 flights and more than 268,000 airline seats.
The comments follow Duffy’s warning earlier this week that the US could close part of its airspace if the shutdown, which is in its record-breaking 36th day, does not end.
Duffy and Bedford have repeatedly framed the decision as a preventative, safety and data-driven measure. Bedford said air traffic is currently operating safely, but the FAA is concerned about reports of widespread fatigue from flight controllers.
“As we slice the data further, we see that there is pressure building that we don’t feel will allow us to continue to tell the public that we operate the safest airline system in the world if we allow it to go unchecked,” Bedford said.
“A lot of these employees are heads of the household,” Duffy said. “When they lose their income, they face real-life challenges of how they can pay their bills.”
Senate to vote on bipartisan bill to stop unauthorized war against Venezuela
Good morning and welcome to our coverage of US politics as the record-breaking government shutdown continues and President Donald Trump continues to rail against various targets in the wake of Democrats’ election success on Tuesday.
But first, let’s look at today’s vote in the Senate on bipartisan legislation to stop an unauthorized war against Venezuela.
The proposals from Democrats Tim Kaine and Adam Schiff, as well as independent-minded Republican senator Rand Paul, would prevent the use of U.S. armed forces in hostilities within or against Venezuela unless authorized by Congress. This follows reports that the Trump administration is considering domestic ground strikes.
It also comes after a new deadly attack on a boat accused of transporting drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean and as an aircraft carrier is heading to the region in a new expansion of military firepower.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that two people died on the ship in Tuesday’s attack, increasing the death toll from the Trump administration’s campaign in South American waters to at least 66 people in at least 16 attacks.
A similar vote that would have blocked such strikes failed in Congress last month.
Meanwhile, Schiff said on X:
The Trump administration is preparing the ground for a possible military operation in Venezuela. Tomorrow, on a bipartisan basis, we will vote to block this unauthorized use of military force. Congress must assert its authority to prevent America from being dragged into another war.
In other developments:
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Democrats took a victory lap after winning on Tuesday’s election day, with the chairman of the Democratic National Committee saying the party was “all throttle, no brakes” and “this is not your grandfather’s Democratic party.” Still, Maine’s Democratic Rep. Jared Golden announced Wednesday that he will not seek reelection, which could present a challenge for Democrats in the hotly contested seat.
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A federal judge in Chicago issued a temporary restraining order requiring the immigration facility to improve their conditions. The decision came after detainees sued the government over “inhumane”, unhealthy and crowded conditions.
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Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the Federal Aviation Administration will cut 10% of flights at 40 major airports across the country if an agreement is not reached on the government shutdown. The announcement did not specify which 40 airports the discount would be applied to, but Duffy said it would affect cargo, private and passenger traffic.
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The US supreme court appeared skeptical on Wednesday about the legal basis for the Trump administration’s sweeping global tariff regime after the justices questioned the president’s authority to impose the tariffs. The question at the center of the case is whether the Trump administration’s tariffs violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), a 1977 law that gives the president authority only to “regulate or prohibit international transactions during a national emergency.”
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As Donald Trump hosted Republican senators at the White House, he offered some initial thoughts on Democratic victories nationwide on election night. “It wasn’t expected to be a victory last night, it was in very Democratic districts. But I don’t think that’s good for Republicans,” the president said.
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on Capitol Hill, During the government shutdown (now the longest shutdown in history), Republicans continued to berate Democrats for not passing a temporary funding bill. House Speaker Mike Johnson also used his daily news conference to both downplay and anticipate what Tuesday’s election results indicate going forward.
