The Senate on Tuesday voted to block a resolution that would have required President Donald Trump to seek congressional approval before taking further military action against Venezuela. The measure, introduced by Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., was defeated on a 51-50 vote, with Vice President JD Vance casting the tie-breaking vote.
The resolution had sought to invoke the War Powers Act following recent U.S. military operations involving Venezuela. Supporters of the resolution said Congress must reassert its constitutional authority over decisions to use military force, arguing the administration acted without sufficient consultation with lawmakers.
Kaine said the vote underscored what he described as a growing imbalance of power between the executive and legislative branches.
Republicans opposing the measure said it was unnecessary, arguing the United States is not engaged in sustained hostilities that would trigger the War Powers Act. Senate GOP leaders said the administration has provided assurances that there are no ongoing plans for expanded military action or deployment of U.S. ground forces.
The vote came after two Republican senators — Josh Hawley of Missouri and Todd Young of Indiana — who had initially supported advancing the resolution reversed course after getting personal assurances from Secretary of State and former Florida Sen. Marco Rubio that there would be no U.S. ground operations in the country. Their reversal allowed Republicans to maintain control of the chamber’s agenda.
Among Rubio’s assurances: Prior to “any major military operation in Venezuela,” the administration will “come to Congress” and seek congressional approval, Young said, per CNN.
Democrats said they plan to continue pressing for greater congressional oversight of military operations, warning that future administrations could further expand executive authority without legislative checks.
GOP Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky co-sponsored the measure with Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine. Republicans Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski also voted with Democrats.
Paul said he had a “spirited conversation” with the president last week about the operation as he dismissed the administration’s argument that there is no war underway an “elaborate ruse.”
“If you have 1000 boats or 100 boats off of a country’s coast, you’ve already bombed their capital, and you’re now preventing any boats from coming in and out and taking all their oil. Are you at war with that nation?” he told CNN.
“I think it’s a disservice to the people who put their lives on the line that we’re not calling it a war. So we play games. And people need to point out that, frankly, this is an elaborate ruse that’s being perpetrated on the American people,” he added.
Murkowski said in a statement Wednesday night that the war powers resolution “reaffirms Congress’s Article I responsibility to authorize hostilities and ensures that decisions of this magnitude receive appropriate debate and oversight.”
Trump echoed some constitutional scholars earlier this week when he labled the War Powers Act of 1973 an unconstitutional restraint on the president’s role as commander-in-chief.
Vice President JD Vance also made the same argument this week.
“Second of all, as the president, I believe himself, has already said every president, Democrat or Republican, believes the War Powers Act is fundamentally a fake and unconstitutional law,” he said during a press conference.
“It’s not going to change anything about how we conduct foreign policy over the next couple of weeks, the next couple of months and that will continue to be how we approach things,” Vance added.
Trump ripped the five GOP senators who were initially all-in for the measure.
“Republicans should be ashamed of the Senators that just voted with Democrats in attempting to take away our Powers to fight and defend the United States of America. Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Rand Paul, Josh Hawley, and Todd Young should never be elected to office again,” Trump said on Truth Social.
