US Senate Republicans on Wednesday blocked a resolution that would have barred US President Donald Trump from taking further military action in Venezuela without congressional approval, after pressure from members of the Republican Party who supported the president.
of The vote was 51-50. A command point for Republicans to veto the war powers resolution, as only three of Trump’s Republicans voted to move forward with every Democrat, and Vice President JD Vance came to the Capitol to break the tie.
After January 3rd and US troops entered Caracas, the opposition argued that the decision should not go forward. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has been arrested..
“We are not conducting military operations there at this time,” Senate Majority Leader John Tune, R-South Dakota, said Wednesday as he opened the chamber.
“Democrats are taking this bill because their anti-Trump hysteria knows no bounds.”
The Trump administration has argued that Maduro’s arrest was not a military operation, but a judicial operation to prosecute him on drug charges in the United States.
Opponents reject rationality.
Supporters of the military proposal disagreed, citing the fact that many US ships are blocking Venezuela, and it took months. Shooting on boats in the southern Caribbean and Pacific. Trump has threatened further military action.
The President of the United States, Donald Trump, urged the top oil officials to move quickly in the development of the vast oil reserves in Venezuela. But few U.S. forces seem eager to jump in with both feet during the days of their capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
“The argument that the Venezuela campaign is not imminent hostilities within the meaning of the armed forces resolution violates every reasonable meaning of that term,” Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia said in a speech before the vote.
It reflected concerns within Congress, including some Republicans, about the argument that Congress, not the president, has the authority to send U.S. troops to war as stated in the U.S. Constitution.
Trump recently said the US would rule Venezuela for years, declared “help is coming” to Iranians who have rebelled against his government, and threatened military action against NATO ally Denmark’s Greenland.
Administration lawyers have blessed Maduro’s approach.
Days before the U.S. military operation ousted Maduro, Trump administration lawyers blessed the move, saying it “does not rise to the level of war in the constitutional sense” and “serves important national interests,” according to a legal opinion outlining a muscular view of the presidency.
A heavily redacted version of an opinion released this week by Justice Department legal advisers concluded that the administration is legally allowed to oust Maduro, shedding new light.
In the year The December 23 opinion was prepared for the legal counsel of the White House National Security Council. The 22-page document was drafted by lawyers from the Office of the Legal Counsel, which has historically been called upon to resolve thorny legal questions for the executive branch.
In this case, the proposal wrestles with the question of whether Trump could order the military to help law enforcement help oust Maduro, prompting criminal charges in the United States.
The answer, the opinion was yes. He cited five different reasons, including the “serious” allegations against Maduro in the drug-trafficking case; “other very dangerous activities” he and his associates allegedly engaged in; the need for military force to protect civilians in Venezuela and abroad; And US workers may face “armed resistance” to protect Maduro.
“Here, we are told to assume that there are literally 200 armed guards in the fortress, sent from another country and armed just to ensure Maduro’s safety,” he said. “This level of armed resistance supports the need for military forces to provide security for law enforcement.”
Although the comments outline what they say are significant risks in the military operation, based on Maduro’s exact location at the time of the operation, administration lawyers have speculated that it could lead to an all-out war that would require congressional approval.
Pressure from Trump
Wednesday’s vote showed Trump’s hold on his party.
It comes less than a week after the Senate voted on Jan. 8 to advance the resolution. In that vote, five Republicans joined every Democrat in favor of moving forward.
Trump responded angrily, saying the five Republicans should not be re-elected. The five were Rand Paul of Kentucky, Susan Collins of Maine, Josh Hawley of Missouri, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Todd Young of Indiana. Trump’s party has a 53-47 majority in the Senate.
Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other administration officials have launched an aggressive campaign to encourage Republicans to reverse their position and oppose the resolution.
Hawley and Young did just that on Wednesday.
In the statementYoung said he had received confirmation from “senior national security officials” that there were no US troops in Venezuela. “If President Trump decides that U.S. troops are needed for major military operations in Venezuela, I have promised that the administration will first come to Congress to request force authorization,” he said.
Even if it passed the Senate to become law, the measure would have to pass the Republican-led House of Representatives and receive a two-thirds majority in both the House and Senate to survive an expected Trump veto.
Trump’s Republicans blocked two earlier attempts to advance similar resolutions in the Senate last year.
After Maduro’s arrest, Democrats publicly and some Republican behind-the-scenes lawmakers accused the administration of misleading Congress by saying it did not intend to force Venezuela to change its government.
In recent days, Trump has posted a meme online depicting himself as the “acting president of Venezuela.” He told the New York Times. US involvement in the South American country will continue for years.