The Republican majority in the Senate on Thursday quashed a measure to limit the Trump administration’s ability to wage war against Venezuela, boosting the risk of an escalation in the weeks ahead.
By a 51-49 vote, senators rejected the resolution from Sens. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.).
Paul and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) provided the only GOP votes for the legislation to terminate military operations within or against Venezuela without specific authorization from Congress. The vote came amid many top Trump administration officials pushing for U.S. military involvement to remove Venezuela’s autocratic ruler, Nicolas Maduro, from power.
“We should not be in a war without Congress,” Kaine said ahead of the vote.
President Donald Trump reportedly has not made a final decision on directly attacking Venezuela. However, he has approved CIA operations there, along with a major military build-up off the country’s coast and a campaign of U.S. strikes against boats in the Caribbean near Colombia, Venezuela and off western South America that has killed at least 66 people. The administration claims the effort is targeting drug trafficking, but has not provided proof of criminality by those killed or evidence for its claim that Maduro oversees a major narcotics scheme that is harming Americans. Opposition to Maduro and to his ally Cuba has long been a fixation for some Republicans, notably Secretary of State and acting national security adviser Marco Rubio.
The Trump administration has cited War on Terror-style arguments to justify its attacks as part of a counter-terror mission.
Lawmakers say officials have not answered key questions about the escalating campaign, while other military officials have left their posts amid disagreements with the moves. Thursday’s vote could have shown a strong anti-war push.
Matt Duss of the Center for International Policy think tank compared the development to past bipartisan efforts to restrain controversial military efforts during the first Trump presidency.
“In 2019 and 2020, we had enough Republicans joining Democrats to pass important resolutions against war with Yemen and Iran. It’s really sad that we can’t find enough Republicans this time,” Duss told HuffPost. “The Constitutional principles haven’t changed. What has changed is Republicans’ willingness to defend those principles.”