By STEPHEN GROVES, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate was voting Thursday on legislation that would check President Donald Trump’s ability to launch an attack against Venezuela, as Democrats pressed Congress to take a stronger role in Trump’s high-stakes campaign against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Lawmakers, including top Republicans, have demanded that the Trump administration provide them with more information on the U.S. military strikes against alleged drug-smuggling vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean. But Thursday’s vote, which would essentially forestall an attack on Venezuelan soil by first requiring congressional authorization, was a significant test of GOP senators’ willingness to allow the Trump administration to continue its buildup of naval forces in the region.
“We’re tired of Congress abdicating this most solemn power to a president,” said Sen. Tim Kaine, the Virginia Democrat who introduced the resolution.
While the legislation has virtually no chance of being enacted, in part because it would need to be signed by Trump himself, it still allowed senators to go on the record with their concerns about the president’s public threats against Venezuela. U.S. naval forces are building an unusually large force, including its most advanced aircraft carrier, in the Caribbean Sea, leading many to the conclusion that Trump’s intentions go beyond just intercepting cocaine-running boats.
“It’s really an open secret that this is much more about potential regime change,” said Sen. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat who also pushed the resolution. “If that’s where the administration is headed, if that’s what we’re risking — involvement in a war — then Congress needs to be heard on this.”
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The push for congressional oversight
As the Trump administration has reconfigured U.S. priorities overseas, there has been a growing sense of frustration among lawmakers, including some Republicans, who are concerned about recent moves made by the Pentagon.
At a hearing in the Senate Armed Services Committee earlier Thursday, Sen. Roger Wicker, the Republican chair, said that many senators have “serious concerns about the Pentagon’s policy office” and that Congress was not being consulted on recent actions like putting a pause on Ukraine security assistance, reducing the number of U.S. troops in Romania and the formulation of the National Defense Strategy.
GOP senators have directed their ire at the Department of Defense’s policy office, which is led by Elbridge Colby, an official who has advocated for the U.S. to step down its involvement in international alliances.
“It just seems like there’s this pigpen-like mess coming out of the policy shop,” said Sen. Tom Cotton, an Arkansas Republican who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, during another armed services hearing earlier this week.
As pushback has mounted on Capitol Hill, the Trump administration has stepped up its briefings on the campaign in the Caribbean, including sending both Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to a classified briefing Wednesday for congressional leaders on the strikes against vessels. The officials gave details on the intelligence that is used to target the boats and allowed senators to review the legal rationale for the attacks, but did not discuss whether they would launch an attack directly against Venezuela, according to lawmakers in the meeting.
Still, Democrats, joined by Republican Sen. Rand Paul, have pushed into the unease among Republicans by forcing a vote on the potential for an attack on Venezuela under the War Powers Resolution of 1973, which was intended to reassert congressional power over the declaration of war.
A previous war powers vote pertaining to the strikes against boats in international waters failed last month on a 48-51 vote, but Kaine said he was hoping to peel off more Republicans with a resolution that only pertains to attacks on Venezuela.
Some Republicans are uneasy with Caribbean campaign
Republican leadership was pressing Thursday to make sure the legislation failed, and many GOP senators have expressed support for Trump’s campaign, which has killed at least 66 people in 16 known strikes.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican who is a Trump ally, argued in a floor speech that the War Powers Act gave lawmakers too much power over military decisions and that Congress has other means to check the president’s decisions.
“I like the idea that our commander-in-chief is telling narco-terrorist organizations you’re not only a foreign terrorist organization, but when you engage in threats to our country — a boat headed to America full of drugs — we’re going to take you out,” Graham said.
But there were still several senators carefully considering their vote. Just hours before the vote, Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said she had carefully read over the Trump administration’s secret legal opinion on the strikes, but had not reached a decision.
“It remains a difficult decision,” she said.
Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, said he would vote against the resolution, but added that he has had his doubts about the campaign. He pointed out that it was expensive to change the deployment location for an aircraft carrier and questioned whether those funds could be better used at the U.S.-Mexico border to stop fentanyl trafficking.
Tillis said that if the campaign continues for several months more, “then we have to have a real discussion about whether or not we’re engaging in some sort of hybrid war.”
Still, Kaine acknowledged that there was also some risk in forcing the vote because it could give a tacit greenlight to Trump to launch an outright attack.
“Congress has got to just stand up and be counted — or not,” he said.
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