Senate Democrats will force a vote next week on a war powers resolution directing President Trump to terminate the use of U.S. armed forces for hostilities against Venezuela unless authorized by Congress.
They had filed the resolution in December amid concerns that the Trump administration was planning military action in Venezuela in support of a regime change, which came to fruition early Saturday.
“One of the reasons the founding fathers gave the ability to declare war to the Congress is so there would be debate, discussion, different points of view before something so momentous happens,” Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer said. “And they’re just ripping up that part of the Constitution.”
Mr. Schumer, New York Democrat, told reporters on a press call Saturday afternoon that he spoke with Sen. Tim Kaine, Virginia Democrat, about calling up the war powers resolution for a vote when Congress returns to Washington next week.
“He will bring it up, and I told him I would support it and work to get adequate floor time so we could debate and discuss this,” he said.
Senate Democrats forced a vote in early November on a similar war powers resolution amid reports that the Trump administration was planning for ground strikes within Venezuela.
That vote failed 49-51, with only two Republicans, Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, joining Democrats in support.
Mr. Schumer is hoping more Republicans will vote to reclaim Congress’ power to declare war after the U.S. launched military strikes on Venezuela early Saturday and captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
“We are saying to the Republicans: This is your responsibility. President Trump is a member of your party. You’ve gone along with him over and over again. This is one time you got to resist him. It’s too serious,” he said.
The U.S. military operation in Venezuela was conducted in conjunction with federal law enforcement. The Justice Department announced an indictment charging Mr. Maduro and Ms. Flores with narco-terrorism conspiracy and cocaine importation conspiracy for their alleged involvement in international drug trafficking operations that have imported tons of cocaine into the U.S.
Mr. Trump said in a press conference earlier Saturday that the U.S. will “run” Venezuela until there can be a proper transition to a new government, and that will likely require a military presence.
“We’re not afraid of boots on the ground,” he said. “We don’t mind saying it, but we’re going to make sure that the country is run properly. We are not doing this in vain.”
Mr. Schumer said those comments emphasize the need for Congress to reassert its role in approving any military operations in Venezuela.
“They’ve talked about boots on the ground. They’ve talked about a second wave,” he said. “All of those things could be affected by the War Powers Act.”
Mr. Kaine said in a statement that Mr. Trump’s unauthorized military attack on Venezuela to arrest Mr. Maduro “is a sickening return to a day when the United States asserted the right to dominate the internal political affairs of all nations in the Western Hemisphere.”
“It is long past time for Congress to reassert its critical constitutional role in matters of war, peace, diplomacy and trade,” he said in support of his war powers resolution. “We’ve entered the 250th year of American democracy and cannot allow it to devolve into the tyranny that our founders fought to escape.”
Sen. Adam Schiff, California Democrat, who partnered with Mr. Kaine, Mr. Schumer and Mr. Paul in introducing the war powers resolution, said the president’s operation in Venezuela breaks his promise to end wars instead of starting them.
“For months, as the Trump administration massed American servicemembers and firepower in the Caribbean and used military force to destroy vessels and kill those on board … we warned that the true motive was not drugs, but regime change in an oil-rich nation,” Mr. Schiff said in a statement. “Despite all of the administration’s false denials, those motivations are now clear.”
Mr. Schumer said the administration did not brief him ahead of the attacks or immediately after.
He is a member of the “Gang of Eight,” the top four congressional party leaders and the four leaders of the Senate and House Intelligence Committees who are authorized to receive classified intelligence and are supposed to be kept apprised of significant national security matters.
As of midafternoon Saturday, Mr. Schumer said he had not heard back from the administration about whether it would comply with his request for an immediate Gang of Eight briefing and full Senate and House briefings early next week.
“They’ve kept everyone in the total dark,” he said.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has briefed some Republican lawmakers, including Gang of Eight members Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota and House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana, both of whom praised the Trump administration’s operation to arrest Mr. Maduro.
Sen. Susan Collins, Maine Republican and chair of the Appropriations Committee, said she had also been briefed by Mr. Rubio.
“While there is still much we don’t know, this mission appears to have been a limited scope operation, run in conjunction with law enforcement, that effectively apprehended an international criminal,” she said in a statement. “Congress should have been informed about the operation earlier and needs to be involved as this situation evolves.”
Mr. Schumer said he asked Trump administration officials during three separate briefings last year if they were pursuing regime change in Venezuela or intent on taking military action in the country.
“They assured me that they were not pursuing those things,” he said. “Clearly, they’re not being straight with the American people.”
The Senate Democratic leader said the Trump administration needs to detail its plans for using troops on the ground in Venezuela and how it plans “to prevent a humanitarian and geopolitical disaster that plunges us into another endless war, or one that trades one corrupt dictator for another.”
Mr. Schumer declined to speculate on potential action Congress could take beyond the war powers vote, but warned: “We’re going to use all the tools we can to prevent this from getting worse.”
• Lindsey McPherson can be reached at lmcpherson@washingtontimes.com.
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