Senate lawmakers on Thursday voted down a resolution that would have required President Trump to seek congressional approval before launching any military actions against Venezuela.
The final tally had 49 senators voting in favor of the measure, with 51 rejecting it.
The resolution was introduced by Sen. Tim Kaine, Virginia Democrat, who convinced 15 cosponsors to sign on, including Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky.
It would have directed the president to “terminate the use of United States armed forces for hostilities within or against Venezuela” without explicit congressional approval for a declaration of war or an authorization for use of military force.
Mr. Kaine said no authorization yet exists for Mr. Trump to launch military strikes against Venezuela.
“Instead of working with Congress, the Trump administration has left us in the dark about the ongoing operations and large-scale buildups of military assets in the region. It has not shared any information with the American people about what the fallout could be from this potential conflict,” Mr. Kaine said.
“We shouldn’t be sending our sons and daughters into harm’s way with incomplete information, and without a robust debate in front of the American people,” he said.
Mr. Kaine introduced the resolution on Oct. 17 following reports that the White House was considering land strikes inside Venezuela.
The USS Gerald R. Ford, the Navy’s newest aircraft carrier, is expected to reach the Caribbean next week.
The warship’s arrival will mark a dramatic escalation of the military buildup near Venezuela and could stir up growing speculation that the White House wants to topple President Nicolas Maduro.
The Trump administration said Mr. Maduro is part of “Cartel de los Soles” [Cartel of the Suns], a criminal ring linked to senior Venezuelan military leaders involved with trafficking drugs into the United States.
Mr. Maduro was indicted in 2020 on federal charges of narco-terrorism and conspiracy to export cocaine to the U.S. Washington has since doubled the reward for his arrest to $50 million.
On Thursday, Mr. Kaine told his colleagues that partisan politics played no part in his decision to introduce the war powers resolution. He had also opposed such unilateral executive action when Democrats were in the White House.
“I urge you to take this as seriously as you would take it if the president were a Democrat,” he said. “It shouldn’t matter. We should not be going to war without a vote of Congress. The lives of our troops are at stake.”
Since September, the U.S. military has conducted 16 known strikes on speed boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific that were suspected of carrying drugs. At least 67 people have been killed in the missions.
Pentagon officials said their targets were hit following intelligence that linked the boats to a specific cartel or drug-smuggling operation.
The U.S. military “has spent over two decades defending other homelands. Now, we’re defending our own,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said last month on X. “These narco-terrorists have killed more Americans than al-Qaeda, and they will be treated the same. We will track them, we will network them, and then, we will hunt and kill them.”
Mr. Paul said “executions” without due process isn’t justice and called blowing up foreign vessels “a recipe for chaos.”
“The Coast Guard doesn’t blow up boats off Miami because 25% of the time their suspicion is wrong. Venezuela is no different. These are small outboards with no fentanyl and no path to Florida,” Mr. Paul said. “To kill indiscriminately is akin to summary execution. Even the worst of the worst in our country get due process.”
The White House is relying on the president’s authority under Article II of the Constitution as Commander-in-Chief to bomb the suspected drug-smuggling vessels.
Last month, the Miami Herald said the White House had already decided to attack military targets inside Venezuela, citing “sources with knowledge of the situation.”
The aim is to decapitate the hierarchy of the Cartel de los Soles, which is believed to export around 500 tons of cocaine yearly to Europe and the United States.
But according to the Wall Street Journal, Mr. Trump has recently expressed reservations to top aides about launching military action to oust Venezuela’s leader. He reportedly is concerned that such action might not compel Mr. Maduro to step down.
Sen. Adam Schiff, California Democrat and a cosponsor of the resolution, said the rapid increase in firepower in the region, including at least eight U.S. warships and one attack submarine, undermines the Trump administration’s claims that they are solely interested in stopping drug smugglers.
“Congress has not authorized military force against Venezuela,” he said. “We must assert our Constitutional authority over the use of force before the United States becomes entangled in yet another conflict, this time in South America.”
• Mike Glenn can be reached at mglenn@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.